ADELIE PENGUIN—LEVICK. 59 
rookery was crammed with nesting birds to the number of some three-quarters of 
a million, the occupants in many places spreading right up the cliff of Cape Adare, 
a large colony having established itself at the very summit, at a height of some 
1,000 feet above the sea. 
2.—MATING. 
As I have already said, mating takes place after the birds arrive at the 
rookery, and the following customs are prevalent. 
Usually the hen establishes herself on an old nest, or, very often, scoops out 
a hollow in the ground, and sits in this, waiting for a cock to propose himself (PI. IT). 
Whilst so waiting, she makes no attempt to build. At the beginning of the 
season, when the great stream of arrivals continually pours into the rookery, she 
does not have long to wait. Later, however, as the rookery gets filled up, and 
comparatively few birds in that vast crowd remain unmated, her chances are naturally 
not so good. 
For example, on November 16th there was a hen so established in a little 
scoop she had made in the ground. Looking thinner and more forlorn as day after 
day passed by, she made no attempt to build a nest, until November 27th, when a 
cock was found to have joined her, and the little scoop she had made more than ten 
days before was lined with stones which she was placing in position, as her mate, steadily 
at work, brought them to her one by one. Her forlorn appearance of the past ten days 
had entirely given place to an air of occupation and happiness. 
Wishing to learn more of the penguin’s mating habits, on October 23rd I went to 
the place where the stream of arrivals entered the rookery, and singling out one 
particular bird, which afterwards proved to be a cock, followed him to see what he 
would do. 
Threading his way through nearly the whole length of the rookery, he avoided the 
tenanted knolls where the nests were, though occasionally he seemed to glance up at 
them in passing. 
Every hundred yards or so he stopped, ruffled his feathers, closed his eyes and 
remained so for about half a minute, when he would rouse himself and continue on his 
way. Evidently he was tired after his long journey and struggling against a desire to 
sleep. 
Arrived at length at the southern end of the rookery, he seemed to make up his 
mind, and boldly ascending a knoll which was well tenanted and covered with nests, 
walked straight up to one of these on which a hen sat. 
A cock stood by her side, but the newcomer either did not see him, or refused to 
notice him. Sticking his beak into the ground in front of the nest, then lifting his 
head, he made as if to place an imaginary stone in front of the hen: a most obvious 
piece of dumb show. 
She took not the slightest notice of him, neither did her mate, to my surprise. 
