ADELIE PENGUINS 



bourhood of the rookery to prey on the penguins. 

 These formidable animals, of which I show some 

 photographs, used to lurk beneath the overhanging 

 ledges of the ice-foot, out of sight of the birds 

 on the ice overhead. (Fig. 51.) They lay quite 

 still in the water, only their heads protruding, until 

 a party of Adelies would descend into the water 

 almost on top of them, when with a sudden dash 

 and snap of their great formidable jaws, they would 

 secure one of the birds. 



It seemed to me then, that all the chivvying 

 and preliminaries which they went through before 

 entering the water, arose mainly from a desire on 

 the part of each penguin to get one of its neighbours 

 to go in first in order to prove whether the coast 

 was clear or not, though all this manoeuvring was 

 certainly taken very lightly, and quite in the nature 

 of a game. This indeed was not surprising, for of 

 all the animals of which I have had any experience, 

 I think the Adelie penguin is the very bravest. 

 The more we saw of them the fonder we became 

 of them and the more we admired their indomitable 

 courage. The appearance of a sea-leopard in their 

 midst was the one thing that caused them any panic. 

 With dozens of these enemies about they would 

 gambol in the sea in the most light-hearted manner, 

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