THE EMPEROR PENGUIN. 3 
Note ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
Plate I. represents the Emperor Penguin Rookery at Cape Crozier in September, looking 
eastward, along Ross’ Great Ice Barrier. 
Plate IT. represents the head of an adult Emperor Penguin in full plumage. (Life size.) 
Plate ITT. represents the heads of Emperor Penguins at various stages of growth. Figs. 1 and 2, 
the heads of chicks in down at one week and one month. Figs. 3 and 4, of immature birds at 
five and six months. Figs. 5 and 6, of immature birds at seventeen months. (4 life size.) 
Plate IV. is from one of the frozen chicks picked up on the ice at Cape Crozier. It required no 
support to stand thus while frozen, but probably would not stand so erect in life. It is drawn 
as it was picked up, but erect instead of lying on its side. 
Plate V. represents the feet of young chicks and an adult. 
Plates VI. and VII. represent four Emperor Penguin’s eggs, life size, taken from the rookery at 
Cape Crozier. Plate VI, fig. 1, is the smallest, Plate VII., fig. 1, the largest of the series. 
Fig. 2 on each plate represents a variation of surface. 
Our first introduction to the Emperor Penguin, the largest and the handsomest of all 
living penguins, occurred on January 4th, 1902, when we had entered the pack ice and 
were making the best of our way towards open water again to the south. The birds were 
scattered here and there, singly, or in couples, and much to our surprise we found that 
almost all were immature. It was not until we had worked our way through the pack 
ice, and had begun to coast along South Victoria Land, that we realised that we had left 
the region frequented by the immature and had come amongst adult birds. Even 
now, however, these were few and far between; we came across a few companies of 
eight or ten in the bay named after Lady Newnes, and they were in full moult, but 
afterwards we saw still fewer until we came to the fast ice of King Edward VIL’s Land, 
at the extreme eastern end of Ross’ Barrier. 
Passing by McMurdo Sound in our search for winter quarters we sailed to the 
eastward till we came to the rocky cliffs of Cape Crozier, under Mount Erebus and 
Mount Terror, the two volcanoes which form what is now known as Ross Island. 
These high rocky cliffs abut on the ice cliffs of the Great Ice Barrier, and where the ice 
and rock cliffs meet at an angle they enclose a bay. On the ice of this little bay, as we 
discovered some nine months later, a very large number of Emperor Penguins collect 
year by year to form a breeding “ rookery ” (figs. 1 and 2, p. 1; also fig. 5, p. 8). But 
in January of 1902, when we first reached the spot, the ice was all gone out, and not 
an Emperor Penguin could be seen, nor was there the least suggestion of the rookery’s 
existence, though the ice on which it stood could hardly have been broken up much 
more than a month before. Nota single Emperor Penguin was in sight, either young or 
old, as the ‘ Discovery’ passed the spot in January and made her way to the eastward 
along the sea face of the Great Ice Barrier. 
After sailing for over a week along this ice cliff, 5C0 miles in length, and of a 
height which averaged 200 feet, we came at length to its eastern confines and 
discovered the new land mass now called King Edward VII.’s Land. Here in a bay, 
