ADELIE PENGUINS 



remote ancestors doubtlessly did, before their wings 

 had adapted themselves solely to swimming. 



Close to the scrap-heap there was a large knoll 

 crowded with penguins' nests, and it was this knoll 

 that provided the sentries. Very rarely did one of 

 these leave the heap until another came to relieve 

 it as long as there were skuas about, but when the 

 skuas went the penguins left it too. When the 

 skuas returned, however, and without the lapse of 

 a few seconds, a penguin would be seen to detach it- 

 self from the knoll and run to guard the heap. That 

 some primitive understanding on this matter existed 

 among the penguins seems to me probable, because 

 whilst there were generally one or two guarding 

 the heap, there was never a crowd, the rest of the 

 knoll seeming quite satisfied as long as one of 

 their number remained on guard. 



In describing the Cape Adare rookery I men- 

 tioned the fact that the pebbles entering into the 

 formation of the beach are basaltic, and therefore of 

 a dead black shade. The result of this is that as 

 the sun's altitude increases, heat is absorbed readily 

 by the black rock, through that clear atmosphere, 

 and the snow upon it rapidly melts. 



For a long time the penguins at their nests had 

 satisfied their thirst by eating the snow near them, 

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