ADELIE PENGUINS 



pletely to double in their tracks in the flash of a 

 moment. In porpoising, after travelling thirty feet 

 or so under water, they rise from it, shooting clean 

 out with an impetus that carries them a couple of 

 yards in the air, then with an arch of the back they 

 are head first into the water again, swimming a few 

 more strokes, then out again, and so on. 



I show a photograph of them doing this (Fig. 

 49). 



Perhaps the most surprising feat of which the 

 Adelie is capable is seen when it leaps from the 

 water on to the ice. We saw this best later in the 

 year when the sea-ice had broken away from the ice- 

 foot, so that open water washed against the ice cliff 

 bounding the land. This little cliff rose sheer from 

 the water at first, but later, by the action of the 

 waves, was under-cut for some six feet or more in 

 places, so that the ledge of ice at the top hung for- 

 wards over the water. The height of most of this 

 upper ledge varied from three to six feet. 



Whilst in the water the penguins usually hunted 

 and played in parties, just as they had entered it, 

 though a fair number of solitary individuals were 

 also to be seen. When a party had satisfied their 

 appetites and their desire for play, they would swim 

 to a distance of some thirty to forty yards from the 

 80 



