ADELIE PENGUINS 



As a band of spotless bathers returning to the 

 rookery, their white breasts and black backs 

 glistening with a fine metallic lustre in the sun- 

 light, met a dirty and bedraggled party on its way 

 out from the nesting ground, frequently both 

 would stop, and the clean and dirty mingle 

 together and chatter with one another for some 

 minutes. If they were not speaking words in 

 some language of their own, their whole appear- 

 ance belied them, and as they stood, some in pairs, 

 some in groups of three or more, chattering amic- 

 ably together, it became evident that they were 

 sociable animals, glad to meet one another, and, 

 like many men, pleased with the excuse to forget 

 for a while their duties at home, where their mates 

 were waiting to be relieved for their own spell off 

 the nests. 



After a variable period of this intercourse, the 

 two parties would separate and continue on their 

 respective ways, a clean stream issuing from the 

 crowd in the direction of the rookery, a dirty one 

 heading off towards the open water, but here it 

 was seen that a few who had bathed and fed, 

 and were already perhaps half-way home, had been 

 persuaded to turn and accompany the others, and 

 so back they would go again over the way they 

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