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The National Geographic Magazine 



excluded below the ice-surface, some is 

 also pushed out above, and it is this that 

 forms the ice-flowers. The subject is 

 very fascinating, and we have already 

 started to measure the salinity of ice 

 taken from different depths and formed 

 under various conditions ; the ice-flowers 

 themselves do not seem to constitute a 

 saturated solution of brine, and why they 

 should differ in form in various places 

 seems beyond explanation." 



THE EMPEROR PENGUIN 



"We had felt that this penguin was the 

 truest type of our region. All other 

 birds fled north when the severity of 

 winter descended upon us ; the Emperor 

 was alone prepared to face the extremest 

 rigors of our climate ; and we gathered 

 no small satisfaction from being the first 

 to throw light on the habits of a creature 

 that so far surpasses in hardiness all 

 others of the feathered tribe.* 



"Not many birds undertake to lay 

 their eggs in the darkness of a polar 

 winter, nor do many birds appear to 

 think that sea-ice is the most attractive 

 ground to 'sit' on. And when, in addi- 

 tion to this, we find the Emperor pen- 

 guin hatching out its chicks in the coldest 

 month of the whole Antarctic year, when 

 the mean temperature for the month is 

 i8° below zero, Fahrenheit, and the mini- 

 mum may fall to -68°, I think we may 

 rightly consider the bird to be eccentric. 



"The Emperor penguin stands nearly 

 four feet high, and weighs upward of So 

 to 90 pounds. He is an exceedingly 

 handsome bird, with a rich black head, a 

 bluish-gray back and wings, a lemon- 

 yellow breast, with a satin-like gloss on 

 the feathers, and a brilliant patch of 

 orange on the neck and lower bill. His 

 movements are slow and stately, and the 

 dignity of his appearance is much in- 

 creased by the upright carriage of his 

 head and bill. When a group of these 

 birds is met with in the middle of the 



* This description of this remarkable bird is 

 from the chapter on "Antarctic Fauna," by Ed- 

 mund A. Wilson. Voyage of The Discovery, 

 vol. 2, p. 469. 



desert ice, where all around is gray and 

 cold and white and silent, the richness of 

 their coloring strikes one very forcibly. 

 Their voice is loud and trumpet-like, and 

 rings out in the pack-ice with a note of 

 defiance that makes one feel that man is 

 the real intruder. They have no fear, 

 but an abundance of inquisitiveness, and 

 a party such as I have mentioned will 

 walk up to one with dignity, and stand in 

 a ring all round, with an occasional re- 

 mark from one to the other, discussing, 

 no doubt, the nature of this new and up- 

 right neighbor. 



"The method employed by the Em- 

 peror penguin for carrying the G.g^ and 

 chick upon his feet is shared also by the 

 King penguin of the sub-Antarctic area; 

 as we saw in our visit to their rookeries 

 in the Macquarie Islands. The King 

 penguin we saw as he sat in mud and 

 puddles, with his single egg upon his 

 feet, and now we saw the Emperor pen- 

 guin doing precisely the same thing with 

 his single chicken to keep it off the ice ; 

 and we are agreed that the term 'pouch,' 

 which has been used in this connection, is 

 one which not only does not describe the 

 matter, but is anatomically wrong and 

 misleading. The single ^%%, or the 

 chick, sits resting on the dorsum of the 

 foot, wedged in between the legs and the 

 lower abdomen, and over it falls a fold of 

 heavily feathered skin, which is very 

 loose, and can completely cover up and 

 hide the egg or chick from view. When 

 the chick is hungry or inquisitve, it pokes 

 out from under the maternal (or pater- 

 nal) lappet a piebald downy head of black 

 and white, emitting its shrill and persist- 

 ent pipe until the mother (or the father) 

 fills it up. 



"The feeding is managed as with cor- 

 morants and many other birds, the little 

 one finding regurgitated food when it 

 thrusts its head inside the parent's mouth. 



"I think the chickens hate their parents, 

 and when one watches the proceedings in 

 a rookery it strikes one as not surpris- 

 ing. In the first place, there is about one 

 chick to ten or twelve adults, and each 

 adult has an overpowering desire to 'sit' 



