40 EDWARD A. WILSON. 



As we neared Cape Adarc, we had Adelie Penguins in the water all around us, 

 birds by hundreds dashing in and out like little dolphins, making very rapid travelling 

 through the water, shooting into the air with heads drawn in and wings appressed, just 

 clearing the water by a foot for a yard or more, and then in with the slightest little 

 splash. When first seen, they may easily be mistaken for a school of fish. Under 

 the water they wing their way with powerful strokes, often in a zig-zag course, 

 especially if frightened, as a means, no doubt, of baffling the seals and Killer whales 

 that are their terror. The feet and tail in this method of progression are used for 

 steering only, but if the bird is at the surface, floating as he does low in the water, 

 instead of the wings the feet will be used for propelling. 



In landing on a shelving shore, the bird merely swims till he can stand upright 

 and walk, but in landing from deep water on an icefloe with its edge a foot or two 

 above the water, he leaps like a salmon, with this difference, that instead of allowing 

 his body to follow the curve of motion, he preserves the vertical position, and lauds 

 upon his feet, immediately running on a few paces or falling sometimes on his breast ; 

 and in this landing leap the stiff tail feathers must be of use in preventing any 

 tendency to fall backwards. 



Mr. Burn Murdoch has given three feet as a good leap, and I think this is quite 

 likely, though their powers are not often put to such a test. In leaping from floe 

 to floe across a crack of open water, they show no great athletic capabilities, and 

 in crossing six inches or a foot, which is about as much as they ever dare attempt, 

 their movements are exactly what one is wont to see if the same feat is performed by 

 a child of three. If in their wanderings they come to a crack which is too wide to 

 jump, and yet not wide enough for plunging into, they will follow the edge till they 

 find a point more suited to their tastes ; but it takes much time and many hesitations 

 before they decide the thing to be possible for either. 



Time, happily for them, is no object ; but this at first sight one would hardly 

 guess, their movements being always precise, busy, and preoccupied. It is only when 

 one has watched a little party hurrying along for full half a mile in a direct line, as 

 though upon some urgent business, suddenly stop and all go to sleep, or suddenly turn 

 and go off in another direction, or come back upon some equally urgent call, that one 

 begins to realise that their business is not always so important as it looks. 



On flat ice or snow they seem to prefer walking (fig. 33, p. 46), balancing 

 themselves with their flippers, and leaving between their footmarks a sinuous track made 

 by the tail. If hurried or fatigued by soft snow they will fall on their breasts, the 

 polished feathers of which form an excellent runner surface for toboganning. They 

 then leave a track which takes the form of a straight smooth groove with foot and 

 wing marks on each side, each working in alternation with the other. 



On land, as, for example, in the rookeries, they progress as far as possible on their 

 feet, and in making the longer journeys up the mountain sides, over very craggy 

 rocks and really difficult steeps, they bring bill and wings into use as well as feet 



