DOMESTIC LIFE 



two or three feet in height stood about the rookery. 

 Whenever the summit of one of these was acces- 

 sible, a pair built their nest upon it,* though how 

 they managed to keep up there during the gales 

 was a matter for wonder, but the proud possessors 

 of the castle evidently had a delight in their lofty 

 position. One nest had been made on an old 

 packing-case left by the expedition which wintered 

 there in 1894, and several nested among the weather- 

 ing bones of the seals that had died on the beach. 



Although the greatest care had been taken 

 by nearly all in the choice of sites that would be on 

 dry ground when the thaw came later in the 

 season, yet a few hens had gone to the other 

 extreme, and with greatest stupidity chosen their 

 site right down in the hollows where they were 

 absolutely certain to be flooded later on. These 

 stupid ones are thus prevented from rearing their 

 young, and so selection keeps the wiser for future 

 generations, and eliminates the less intelligent from 

 the community, though perhaps some of these learn 

 by experience, and next year use more discrimina- 

 tion in choosing their nesting place. 



Some of the colonies — in fact, most of them — 

 were orderly and well arranged, and later in the 



* Fig. 37. 



71 



