PENGUINS OF ANTARCTIC REGION GAIN. 481 



young glutton, burying its head almost entire in the beak of the adult, 

 searches for it. 



In general, the broods abandon the nests a few at a time. The 

 young now keep together in small groups, moving about, splashing 

 in the midst of the reddish mud, with which they are covered from 

 head to foot. The very disagreeable odor which comes from them 

 leaves some doubt as to the good hygiene of these animals. Each 

 group is confided to the care of some adults which carefully watch 

 over all these noisy and already inquisitive young creatures. One 

 side of the rookery ends in a cliff overhanging the sea or a ravine, 

 some adults standing there as sentinels. Woe to the curious little 

 one that ventures too near the dangerous spot; the watchman, \\dth a 

 hght stroke of the beak or of the wing, reminds the rash bird of the 

 duty of obedience and of the need of returning to the ranks. 



In February the young, little by little, change the down for the 

 plumage which they wear for a year or until the next molt. They 

 are now distinguished from the adults by the absence of the white iris, 

 also by the color of the throat, which is white instead of black, the 

 line of white and black crossing the cheek below the eye. It is not 

 until the next molting at the end of a year, in February or March, that 

 they take on the plumage of the adult. At the end of February the 

 young can care for themselves; they leave the rookeries and ramble 

 in groups along the coast. From day to day their number dimin- 

 ishes. They leave in March, going northward to dwell on the open sea. 



The parents have done their work. Having labored for their off- 

 spring during four months, they must now think of themselves. 

 Winter approaches, they must form the new habit which will enable 

 them to endure bad weather. They go to rest on the snow or in 

 some crevice of the rocks, sheltered from the prevailing winds. 

 They remain there in the same place, without moving, during the 

 entire molting season; that is to say, for 20 days. They are com- 

 pelled to live on their reserve fat. They become unsightly, resem- 

 bling birds poorly stuflFed, eaten by insects. 



At the end of March, when the molting is over, the birds in small 

 flocks gradually leave their city, to which they will again return at the 

 close of winter, after seven months' absence. 



Finally, the last species, which, like the Adelie, is distributed 

 over the whole extent of the Antarctic continent, is the Emperor 

 Penguin (Aptenodytes Forsteri), a bird of large size, sometimes 

 reaching a height of 1 meter 10 centimeters and a weight of 40 kilo- 

 grams. It is a very beautiful bird; its head is jet black; on each 

 side of the head a band of golden yellow diminishes gradually toward 

 the neck and ventral regions; the back is bluish-gray, the beak to 

 the base of the mandibles purplish-rose. The Emperor does not 

 leave the polar regions, where the birds are found in small groups 



