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ON SOME ANTARCTIC BIEDS. 

 By Edward A. Wilson, M.B., F.Z.S., 



Surgeon and Naturalist on board the (i Discovery." 



Op the ornithological work done in the Antarctic during the 

 three summers and two winters, which were passed by the 

 members of the British Expedition in the " Discovery," 

 nothing proved of greater interest than the breeding habits 

 of the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) . 



Nor were any of the photographs brought home by that 

 expedition more truly unique or interesting than those of the 

 Emperor Penguin and its young, which were obtained at the 

 Cape Crozier rookery by Lieutenant-Engineer Skelton, R.N. 



In dealing with the birds of the very remote region in 

 which the " Discovery " wintered, it must be remembered that 

 we were actually situated at the limit of possible animal 

 habitation, that is to say, that quartered as we were on the 

 edge of Ross' Great Ice Barrier in McMurdo Sound, we had 

 with us in winter no birds at all of any sort or kind, and in 

 summer only three species in any considerable number. 



Certainly we had an occasional straggler from, the open 

 seas to the North, such as a Giant Petrel (Ossifraga gigantea) 

 now and then, and a few Snow Petrels (Pagodroma nivea), and 

 a few of Wilson's Petrels (Oceanites océaniens), but beyond 

 these, none. 



We had, however, at the distance of a few days' sledging-, 

 one of the largest of all known rookeries of the Adélie Penguin 

 (Pygoscelis adeliœ), as well as a second smaller one a trifle 

 nearer. We had also many hundreds of Skuas (Megalestris 

 maccormicki) , which bred freely on certain rocky headlands, 

 and remained with us from October until the end of March. 



But far beyond these in interest, and the one saving grace 

 in an area which was otherwise too far south for profitable 

 work at Ornithology, was the fact that at Cape Crozier, not 

 fifty miles from oui* winter quarters, we had a colony of about 

 a thousand Emperor Penguins. 



Here it was that we found their eggs, here too their young* 

 ones, and here we were able by some half dozen sledge 



