ADELIE PENGUINS 



in a somewhat isolated position. The other 

 evidently was doing his utmost to capture the 

 nest, as whenever he got the other off, he stood 

 on it. There were scarcely any stones in the nest, 

 which contained one egg. I think from the way 

 they fought that both were cocks. 



For two reasons I make special mention of the 

 occurrence, first, because of all the fights I ever 

 saw this was the longest and most relentless, and, 

 secondly, because the nest being in such an isolated 

 position it seemed curious that there could be any 

 mistake about its ownership. Such, however, 

 seemed to be the case, and hour after hour, during 

 the whole day, they fought again and again. 



After each bout of a few minutes both birds 

 became so exhausted that they sank panting to 

 the ground, evidently suffering from thirst and at 

 the limit of their endurance. Sometimes one 

 captured the nest, sometimes the other, but after 

 several hours of this, one of them began to show 

 signs of outlasting the other, and kept possession. 

 For long after this, however, the other returned 

 repeatedly to the attack. 



I fetched my camera and photographed the birds 

 as they fought (Fig. 36). As time went on, the 

 weaker bird took longer and longer intervals to 

 68 



