THE ADELIE PENGUIN. 41 



and nails, and blood stains in their tracks show that sometimes they must suffer in 

 the process (fig. 34, p. 46). 



We saw no marked scratching in the rock surface such as that which has been 

 observed in the Falkland Islands. Probably if one hunted in suitable places in the 

 Antarctic one might find them, for with vesicular volcanic rocks the partitions between 

 the vesicles would easily be broken down by the birds' claws, always in a manner which 

 would assist the subsequent action of water, and the two together would eventually 

 produce deep grooves. 



At Cape Adare, however, where some of the birds nest at a height of nearly 

 1,000 feet, their pathways are peculiar for another reason. They choose, to begin with, 

 the gulleys and " chimneys " which are more or- less filled with snow drift, and the 

 constant procession of birds up and down these gulleys in the steep mountain side 

 gradually wears away a number of deep cuttings in the hard snow which intersect one 

 another in every direction, and leave lozenge-shaped pinnacles standing in between. 

 The quaint aspect given to the thoroughfare in this way is seen in the photo reproduced 

 (fig. 31, p. 42). 



The pace at which these birds can travel in the water rivals that of many fish ; 

 on land they are of course not so fast, though their pace when toboganning on 

 their stomachs is about as quick as a man can run on ice and snow, and a great deal 

 faster than the birds can travel on their feet. 



The question as to whether penguins have in bygone days had the power of 

 flight is still an open one, and I will not attempt to discuss here what is more 

 satisfactorily discussed in another chapter dealing with anatomical details that 

 bear upon the matter of their origin. But, having a strong belief in the permanence 

 of instinctive efforts and habits, even long after their need or their usefulness has 

 disappeared, and having seen a penguin with a strong desire to follow a Skua gull 

 which was flying overhead, crouch down as if to spring and suddenly use its wings as 

 if to rise in flight, while its eyes followed the flight of the Skua, I was so assured of its 

 wish to fly that I could half believe it must once have had the power. 



There is moreover the quaint habit in this bird, as well as in the Emperor and 

 the King, and possibly in others too, of sleeping in an upright position with the bill 

 tucked in behind the flipper. This, as I have more fully explained in the case of the 

 Emperor Penguin, is also a habit or posture in which the bird continues to indulge, 

 but which has no raison d'etre now that the wing is so sparsely feathered. This 

 bird, as is the case with other penguins, sleeps at times on its breast with the head 

 drawn in upon the neck. 



Experiments, in themselves cruel, and useless from a scientific point of view, 

 have been made from time to time with a view to settling the number of minutes 

 that a penguin can remain under water and yet live. Undoubtedly the penguin 

 could, if put to it by finding itself under a very extensive sheet of ice, remain 

 and swim under water for a good deal longer than a minute ; but in the ordinary 



