Vol. XIII. 



1914 



I From Magazines, <Src. 22'^ 



" The female takes great care of the eggs ; several times during 

 the day she tm-ns them with her beak, then she rests on them so 

 as to bring in contact with the shell the region of the abdomen 

 which, on a longitudinal median surface, is destitute of feathers. 

 The lower part of the eggs rests on the feet of the bird. 



" Incubation lasts from 33 to 36 days. 



" The first broods hatch in the latter half of December. On 

 hatching they are covered with a uniformly blackish-grey down, 

 darker on the head, which they keep for seven or eight weeks. 



" After the hatching of the eggs, which ends in the first half of 

 January, the city presents great animation. The parents must 

 assume the difficult task of nourishing the broods, which are 

 rapidly developing. Also, when the hatching is over, the male 

 and female in turn abandon the nest to go a-iishing. 



" One then sees the Adelie quit the rookery in little flocks, 

 which always follow the same route, and in fleeing make veritable 

 paths in the snow to reach some point on the coast where it will 

 be easy to launch out to sea. 



"The Penguins remain in the sea only long enough for the 

 fishing. There, in fact, they encounter their formidable enemies, 

 the killers and the seals. The heron seal {Lobodon carcinophagiis), 

 the Weddell seal {Leptomychofes weddelli), and especially the fierce 

 sea leopard {Hydrurga leptonyx), take for their nourishment an 

 ample supply of Penguins. 



" The fishing ended, always in companies, the birds return to 

 the rookery, where they are impatiently awaited by their offspring. 



" With its great belly, which reaches to its feet, the young bird 

 has a very clumsy appearance. Sometimes completely satiated, 

 it remains in place without being able to stir ; at other times, 

 moved by hunger, it runs after some adult returning from the 

 sea ; it harasses that unfortunate until it finally yields. Through 

 a sort of regurgitation, the bird causes part of the food to return 

 into the throat, where the young glutton, burying its head almost 

 entirely in the beak of the adult, searches for it. 



" In general, the broods abandon the nests a few at a time. The 

 young now keep together in small groups, moving about, splashing 

 in the midst of the reddish mud, with which they are covered 

 from head to foot. The very disagreeable odour which comes 

 from them leaves some doubt as to the good hygiene of these 

 animals. Each group is confided to the care of some adults, 

 which carefully watch over all these noisy and already inquisitive 

 young creatures. One side of the rookery ends in a cliff over- 

 hanging the sea or a ravine, some adults standing there as sentinels. 

 Woe to the curious little one that ventures too near the dangerous 

 spot ; the watchman, with a light stroke of the beak or of the 

 wing, reminds the rash bird of the duty of obedience and of the 

 need of returning to the ranks. 



" In February the young, little by little, change the down for 

 the plumage which they wear for a year or until the next moult. 

 They are now distinguished from the adults by the absence of the 



