INTRODUCTION 



to the water, being dependent on the sea for their 

 food, as are all Antarctic fauna ; the frozen regions 

 inland, for all practical purposes, being barren of 

 both animal and vegetable life. 



Their requirements are few : they seek no shelter 

 from the terrible Antarctic gales, their rookeries in 

 most cases being in open wind-swept spots. In fact, 

 three of the four rookeries I visited were possibly in 

 the three most windy regions of the Antarctic. The 

 reason for this is that only wind-swept places are so 

 kept bare of snow that solid ground and pebbles 

 for making nests are to be found. 



When the chicks are hatched and fully fledged, 

 they are taught to swim, and when this is accom- 

 plished and they can catch food for themselves, both 

 young and old leave the Southern limits of the sea, 

 and make their way to the pack-ice out to the 

 northward, thus escaping the rigors and darkness 

 of the Antarctic winter, and keeping where they 

 will find the open water which they need. For in 

 the winter the seas where they nest are completely 

 covered by a thick sheet of ice which does not 

 break out until early in the following summer. 

 Much of this ice is then borne northward by tide 

 and wind, and accumulates to form the vast rafts 

 of what is called " pack-ice," many hundreds of 



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