THE FASTING PERIOD 



psychological moment to arrive, for they were all 

 strangely quiet and inactive. 



On October 18 the weather cleared and a 

 fair number of penguins started to build their 

 nests. The great majority however, apparently 

 resting, still sat about. Those that built took 

 their stones from old nests, as at present so many 

 of these lay unoccupied. They made quite large 

 nests, some inches high at the sides, with a com- 

 fortable hollow in the middle to sit in. The stone 

 carrying (Fig. 20) was done by the male birds, the 

 hens keeping continual guard over the nest, as 

 otherwise the pair would have been robbed of the 

 fruits of their labours as fast as they were acquired. 



As I strolled through the rookery, most of 

 the birds took little or no notice of me. Some, 

 however, swore at me very savagely, and one 

 infuriated penguin rushed at me from a distance of 

 some ten yards, seizing the leg of my wind-proof 

 trousers. In the morning quite a large number lay 

 down on the sea-ice, a few yards short of the 

 rookery, content apparently to have got so far. 

 They lay there all day, motionless on their breasts, 

 with their chins outstretched on the snow. 



By the evening of October 18 most of the 

 penguins had gathered in little groups on the nest- 



21 



