INTRODUCTION 



inaccessible, so difficult is the climb which the 

 penguins have made to reach them. 



On Duke of York Island, some twenty miles 

 south of the Cape Adare rookery, another breeding- 

 place has been made. This is a small colony only, 

 as might be expected. Indeed it is difficult to see 

 why the penguins chose this place at all whilst room 

 still exists at the bigger rookery, because Duke of 

 York Island, until late in the season, is cut off from 

 open water by many miles of sea-ice, so that with 

 the exception of an occasional tide crack, or seals' 

 blow holes, the birds of that rookery have no means 

 of getting food except by making a long journey on 

 foot. When the arrivals were streaming up to Cape 

 Adare many were seen to pass by, making in a 

 straight line for Duke of York Island, and so adding 

 another twenty miles on foot to the journey they 

 had already accomplished. 



When the time arrived for the birds to feed, some 

 open leads had formed about half way across the 

 bay, and those of the Duke of York colony were to 

 be seen streaming over the ice for many miles on 

 their way between the water and their nests. They 

 seem to think nothing of long journeys, however, 

 as in the early season, when unbroken sea-ice in- 

 tervened between the two rookeries, parties of 



11 



