1 68 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



which breeds on the Antarctic ice at mid-winter, of 

 all seasons, and so needs to protect the egg and 

 chick from cold before everything, but in the King, 

 which does not reach the Antarctic circle at any 

 time, and breeds on land, the habit seems less 

 significant. 



It is curious, too, that as the great danger of the 

 infant Emperor's life is the scrimmage for its pos- 

 , session which results when it is seen, all childless 

 Emperors desiring to foster it, the only break in 

 the whiteness of its down is the black skull-cap, 

 making its little head conspicuous against the 

 white belly of the parent, and thus proclaiming the 

 possession of the treasure. The young King is quite 

 diflFerent, being dark brown all over, though the 

 parents are so much alike. It is easy to see why 

 these birds only lay a single egg, and also why this 

 is the case -mth. the Guillemots and Razorbill, and 

 with the White Noddies, which have the next 

 simplest nidification, simply laying the egg on an 

 unprepared surface and keeping constantly on it. 



The nesting-places of the Auks above mentioned 

 are high cliff-ledges, often even sloping seawards, so 

 that the egg, in spite of its sub-conical shape, 

 would roll off if one or other of the birds did 

 not constantly sit on it, which they do facing 

 the rock, no doubt so as to minimize the chance of 

 dragging the egg off with them when leaving it. 



But that of the tropical White Noddies, re- 

 nowned for their spirit-like appearance and uncanny 

 tameness, is not only a point of a coral reef, but 



