DOMESTIC LIFE 



a clean header into the water. One after another 

 the rest of the party followed him (Fig. 38), 

 all taking off exactly from the spot where he 

 had entered, and following one another so quickly 

 as to have the appearance of a lot of shot poured 

 out of a bottle into the water. The accompanying 

 photograph presents this last scene. 



A dead silence would ensue till a few seconds 

 later, when they would all come to the surface 

 some twenty or thirty yards out, and start rolling 

 about and splashing in the water, cleaning them- 

 selves and making sounds exactly like a lot of boys 

 calling out and chaffing one another. 



So extraordinary was this whole scene, that on 

 first witnessing it we were overcome with astonish- 

 ment, and it seemed to us almost impossible that 

 the little creatures, whose antics we were watching, 

 were actually birds and not human beings. Seem- 

 ingly reluctant as they had been to enter the water, 

 when once there they evinced every sign of enjoy- 

 ment, and would stay in for hours at a time. 



As may be imagined, the penguins spent a great 

 deal of time on their way to and from the water, 

 especially during the earlier period before the sea- 

 ice had broken away from the ice-foot, as they had 

 so far to walk before arriving at the open leads. 



75 



