PLATE XVII. THE ADELIE PENGUIN. 



FIG. 1. From a photograph by E. W. SKELTON (Sk. 49, ^-plate), Jan. 9, 1902 ; 

 taken at Cape Adare. 



FIG. 2. From a photograph by E. H. SHACKLETON (Sh. 37, |-plate), Jan. 9, 1902 ; 

 showing a Penguin pathway up the mountain side at Cape Adare. 



It is not difficult to realise the interest and amusement which these busy 

 colonies afford in such a waste of barren land and ice-covered sea as the 

 Antarctic. The incessant movement and clamouring cries of the birds are 

 almost bewildering, and their energy in chasing and scolding is equally unceasing 

 and aggressive. 



The birds can be seen in Fig. 2 making their way laboriously up a steep 

 gully on the mountain side. Taken as it is from above, the photograph fails to 

 represent the steepness of the climb thus voluntarily imposed upon themselves 

 by these birds. Yet hundreds, for some unexplained reason, nest above the 

 rugged cliffs rather than on the crowded flats below, where there is an abun- 

 dance of room, notwithstanding the enormous numbers. 



The columns of hard snow which form a quaint feature of this pathway 

 are left standing accidentally between the intersecting tracks that began upon 

 drifted snow but have long since worn down to the rock. 



