NATURAL HISTORY STUDIES 



Dr. Levick tells us that towards the middle of 

 October, a single Adelie penguin was seen on the 

 rookery at Cape Adare in the Far South. Two 

 days afterwards there were two, and next day about 

 a score, and next day "as we looked across the sea- 

 ice to the northwards, we could see a long line of 

 AdeHes approaching, tailing out in snake-like 

 fashion, as far as the horizon." This is the first 

 picture, the return of the penguins to their birth- 

 place, for some at least return to the same rookeries 

 year after year to breed. We are out of our depth 

 at once when we think of the mysterious homesick- 

 ness that brings these flightless birds back to their 

 cradle over hundreds of miles of trackless sea. When 

 they get agoing on the ice they toddle hurriedly, 

 one hundred and thirty steps per minute, six inches 

 at a step, two-thirds of a mile per hour. " In the 

 still air their little wheezy respiration could be heard 

 distinctly, and they seemed to be somewhat out of 

 breath." Every now and then they suddenly flop 

 forwards on their breasts and take to tobogganing 

 at the same rate as before, using their legs as pro- 

 pellers. By the end of the month the rookery 

 at Cape Adare was crowded with some three- 

 quarters of a million birds. 



The hens take possession of the old stone-nests 

 or scoop out new hollows in the ground, and wait. 

 The cocks are very drowsy at first, but by and by 

 they take to fighting. The combatants lean their 

 breasts against one another and rain in blows with 

 their flippers. In many cases blood is drawn, 

 but Dr. Levick never saw a fatal encounter. 



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