DOMESTIC LIFE 



lifted them out and put them on dry ground close 

 by, but the parent would have nothing to do with 

 them after this. 



A feature of the above scene, which one could not 

 help noticing, was that however badly a penguin 

 was injured it was never molested by the others, as 

 is almost invariably the rule among other birds, 

 including their near neighbours the skuas. I have 

 seen [a sick skua hunted continuously for over an 

 hour by a mob of its own kind who would not 

 allow it to settle on the ice for a moment's rest. 



Another item of my list requiring explanation is 

 "snow-drifts." 



During both spring and summer there are occa- 

 sional snowstorms, and during these the birds sit 

 tight on their nests, sometimes being covered up by 

 drift. As a rule the bird on the nest keeps a space 

 open by poking its head upwards through the snow, 

 but sometimes it becomes completely buried. Air 

 diffuses so rapidly through snow that death does 

 not take place by suffocation, and the bird can live 

 for weeks beneath a drift, sitting on its nest in the 

 little chamber which it has thawed out by its own 

 warmth. Generally after a few hours the snow 

 abates and settles down sufficiently to expose the 

 nest once more, but sometimes a breeze springs up 



105 



