480 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912- 



who attack, probably with pretty words, dares not decide too quickly. 

 She is intimidated and these attacks of gallantry are generally ended 

 by a regular battle between the suitors; but we can not say wdth 

 certainty whether the ^dctor in the contest inevitably becomes the 

 husband of the lady AdeUe. 



Wliat confusion in these cities of the Adelie; how many quarrels 

 over stolen pebbles and property rights; how many battles, too, 

 started by jealous husbands! And all this occurs on ground wet 

 with melting snow, stained with mud the color of wine dregs. 



The Adelies lay two, very rarely three, eggs. They are slightly 

 greenish- white ; their weight varies between 125 and 135 grams. 

 The laying begins in the first days of November and ends by the last 

 of December. Male and female alternately sit on the nest. 



The female takes great care of the eggs; several times during the 

 day she turns them with her beak, then she rests on them so as to 

 bring in contact with the shell the region of the abdomen which on a 

 longitudinal median surface is destitute of feathers. The lower part 

 of the eggs rests on the feet of the bird. 



Incubation lasts from 33 to 36 days. 



The first broods hatch in the latter half of December. On hatching 

 they are covered with a uniformly blackish-gray down, darker on the 

 head, which they keep for seven or eight weeks. 



After the hatching of the eggs, which ends in the first half of Janu- 

 ar}^, the city presents great animation. The parents must assume 

 the difficult task of nourishing the broods, which are rapidly develop- 

 ing. Also, when the hatching is over, the male and female in turn 

 abandon the nest to go a-fishing. 



One then sees the Adelie quit the rookery in little flocks, which 

 always follow the same route, and in fleeing make veritable paths 

 in the snow to reach some point on the coast where it will be easy to 

 launch out to sea. 



The penguins remain in the sea only long enough for the fishing. 

 There, in fact, they encounter their formidable enemies, the killers 

 and the seals. The heron seal {Lobodon carcinophagus) , the Weddell 

 seal {Leptomycliotes Weddelli), and especially the fierce sea leopard 

 (Hydrurga leptonyx), take for their nourishment an ample supply of 

 penguins. 



The fishing ended, always in companies, the birds return to the 

 rookery, where they are impatiently awaited by their ofl'spring. 



With its great belly, which reaches to its feet, the young bird has a 

 very clumsy appearance. Sometimes completely satiated, it remains 

 in place without being able to stir; at other times, moved by hunger, 

 it runs after some adult returning from the sea; it harasses that 

 unfortunate until it finally yields. Through a sort of regurgitation, 

 the bird causes part of the food to return into the throat, where the 



