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PLATE LTX. EMPEROR PENGUINS. 



FIG. 1. From a photograph by R. W. SKELTON (S. 88, 5" x 4" plate), Mar. 1904; 

 a group of freshly moulted Emperor Penguins taken in M'Murdo Sound. 



FIG. 2. From a photograph by R. W. SKELTON (Sk. 63, ^-plate), Jan. 15, 1902 ; a 

 group of moulting Emperor Penguins taken in Lady Newnes Bay. 



When the Emperor Penguin is about to shed its feathers it increases in 

 apparent size for two reasons. First, because the feathers themselves, instead of 

 lying close to the skin, are loose and ready to fall off ; and second, because the fat 

 under the skin in which the new plumage is imbedded increases to the extent of 

 an inch or more in thickness. This not only supplies nourishment to the growing 

 feathers, but to the bird itself, which will not, on any account, enter the water 

 during the three weeks of the moult, either to catch fish or even to avoid its 

 enemies. The bird prefers to collect in parties on some fast and undisturbed ice, 

 there to wait in patience until the trying business is completed. 



See Nat. Hist. Rep., vol. ii., Aves, pp. 19, 20. 



