ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE AND RESEARCH 



on October 13th, and on the seventeenth there was a 

 thin sprinkHng scattered all over the rookery. They 

 were tired and rested on the old nests, but on October 

 1 8th a few started to build. The male birds collected 

 the stones, while the females mounted guard over the 

 construction. As the later birds arrived some of them 

 climbed one thousand feet up Cape Adare to make 

 their nests. By October 29th the migration had ceased. 

 The mating is accompanied by a definite ''proposal" 

 to the hen, the ''ring" taking the form of a pebble. 

 When two birds have agreed to pair they assume the 

 "ecstatic" attitude, raising their beaks vertically and 

 rocking from side to side. Rival cocks fight viciously, 

 breast to breast, hitting each other rapidly with their 

 flippers until one is exhausted. (See Figure 32.) 



On November 3rd several eggs were found and up 

 to this time no bird had eaten any food since arrival. 

 They eat snow readily, however. Many starved for 

 twenty-seven days in spite of all the fighting and hard 

 work involved in collecting stones. The second egg 

 is laid about three days later and incubation lasts about 

 thirty-five days. After the eggs are laid the birds take 

 turns to go down and feed on shrimps (Euphatisia) . 

 They swim either entirely below water, or occasionally 

 with their heads alone projecting. They are expert 

 divers and Levick records their "upward dives" on to 

 ledges five feet above the water. The sea leopard is 

 their deadly enemy and in the stomach of one specimen 

 no less than eighteen penguins were found in various 

 stages of digestion. The young chicks feed by pushing 

 the head inside the parents' throat and so helping itself 



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