DOMESTIC LIFE 



Some time ago I mentioned that there were 

 penguins of weak individuaUty who allowed others 

 to rob them of their stones, and this was in some 

 cases very noticeable on the flooded ground, and 

 there were one or two nests here which had been 

 almost entirely removed by thieving neighbours. 



To quote again from my notes. 



" November 10. This evening I saw a hen 

 penguin trying to sit on a nest with two eggs. 

 The nest had no stones, and was scooped deeply 

 in the ground in a slush of melting snow, so that 

 the eggs were nearly covered with water. The 

 poor hen stood in the water and kept trying to 

 squat down on the eggs, but each time she did so, 

 sat in the water and had to get up again. She 

 was shivering with cold and all bedraggled. 



" I took the two eggs out of the nest, and 

 Browning and I collected a heap of stones (partly 

 from her richer neighbours !) and built the nest 

 well up above the water. Then I replaced the 

 eggs, and the hen at once gladly sat on them, 

 put them in position, and was busily engaged in 

 arranging the new stones round her when we left." 



One day, when the season was well advanced, I 

 saw a violent altercation taking place between two 

 penguins, one of which was in possession of a nest 



67 



