Section VI. The Life and Habits of Penguins. 



By R. N. RUDMOSE BROWN. D.Sc., University of Sheffield; Naturalist, 

 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. 



EARLY in the spring the penguins begin to return to their rookeries from the open sea 

 or the edge of the pack to the north, where they have spent the winter. They are sea- 

 birds, although they spend a considerable time at the rookeries every spring. By the 

 second week in October the flood tide of returning birds had set in at the South 

 Orkneys, but previous to this there had been many stragglers. From year to year the 

 time of return has proved to be much the same, whether the season is open or not. 

 Even if great stretches of land ice have to be crossed the penguins are not deterred. 

 They hurry onwards through water and over ice, perhaps even crossing necks of land, 

 to reach their favourite rookeries. On some days a steady stream of them passed the 

 Scotia from the north over the Beach across the fast ice in Scotia Bay to the large 

 rookeries on its western side, especially round about Cape Martin. Generally they 

 marched erect, but some in their hurry adopted the prone attitude and scurried ahead 

 of the others. Seldom did a penguin deviate from the line of march ; everyone knew 

 its goal and made straight for it. There can be little doubt that the same birds return 

 year after year to the same rookeries. Possibly the one-year birds return to their birth- 

 places, or may be they simply follow older birds. The erect mode of progression is slow 

 and ungainly, but the prone attitude is the reverse ; propelling themselves forward on 

 their bellies by aid of feet and flippers, they can move over the floe considerably faster 

 than a man on ski can travel, certainly over five, probably more than six miles an hour. 

 By the third week of October the rookeries around Scotia Bay were filled with a 

 noisy, excited crowd of birds, preparing for mating and nesting. As a rule, the rookeries 

 prove to be places that are clear of snow relatively early in the spring. Sometimes 

 they are at sea-level, but more generally several feet above, even as much as 100 feet 

 in places. At some rookeries we found birds as high as 300 feet. There are few suit- 

 able sites that are not occupied during the breeding season, and often enough the late- 

 comers or less fortunate ones are crowded out from the bare ground on to the snow, 

 where they are forced to build their nests. Sometimes it happens that, on the arrival 

 of the birds, parts or all of the rookery are still covered with snow. That makes no 

 difference to the activities of the penguins, unless, perhaps, they voice their dissatis- 

 faction and so add to the noisy clatter that always reigns on the rookeries. However, 

 by the time the eggs are laid the nest is clear of snow, through the sun's action, unless a 

 particularly heavy snowstorm leaves the rookery several inches deep for a day or more. 



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