130 



S 01 U hern Cross. 



companions and attack you furiously ; on presenting the sole of the 

 foot, booted of course, they peck at it viciously and with such vigour 

 as to leave marks upon the hard frozen leather. They do not give 

 way an inch of ground, but stand up before you erect and deter- 

 mined. 



" As to their general habits. On landing they made straight for 

 a certain spot ; some to the summit of the Cape, up the snow slope 

 of which they climb with great facility, some to the base of the 

 mountain, and others scattered over the shore. They congregate 



ADELIA PENGUINS AND YOUNG. 

 (Jixj permission of Messrs. Burst & Blackett.) 



together in communities or social coteries of fifty and upwards. On 

 reaching the spot they immediately start to build their nests, in 

 which work the male as well as the female participates. The nests 

 are crude affairs ; the first operation consists of scratching a small 

 depression in the old guano, then pebbles are carried to it in their 

 bills and piled around, and as soon as it is completed, which takes a 

 day or so, the female sits in it and the male commences his courtship. 

 It was highly amusing to watch their love antics. Some are 

 industrious and pile around many hundreds of small pebbles, others — 

 the lazy ones — were quite proud and delighted with only half-a- 



