ADELIE PENGUINS 



and twisting amongst it in a frantic endeavour to get 

 away, and I quickly lost sight of them. 



Scenes of this kind became so common all over 

 the rookery, that the roar of battle and thuds of 

 blows could be heard continuously, and of the 

 hundreds of such fights, all plainly had their cause 

 in rivalry for the hens. 



When starting to fight, the cocks sometimes peck 

 at each other with their beaks, but always they very 

 soon start to use their flippers, standing up to one an- 

 other and raining in the blows with such rapidity as 

 to make a sound which, in the words of Dr. Wilson, 

 resembles that of a boy running and dragging his 

 hoop-stick' along an iron paling. Soon they start 

 "in-fighting," in which position one bird fights right- 

 handed, the other left-handed ; that is to say, one 

 leans his left breast against his opponent, swinging 

 in his blows with his right flippers, the other present- 

 ing his right breast and using his left flipper. My 

 photographs of cocks fighting all show this plainly. 

 It is interesting to note that these birds, though 

 fighting with one flipper only, are ambidextrous. 

 Whilst battering one another with might and main 

 they use their weight at the same time, and as one 

 outlasts the other, he drives his vanquished opponent 

 before him over the ground, as a trained box- 

 40 



