DOMESTIC LIFE 



snow slope hanging over the very brink of a sheer 

 drop of seven hundred feet on to the sea-ice. 



During the whole of the time when they were 

 rearing their young, these mountaineers had to make 

 several journeys during each twenty-four hours to 

 carry their enormous bellyfuls of euphausia all the 

 way from the sea to their young on the nests — a 

 weary climb for their little legs and bulky bodies. 

 The greater number who had undertaken this did 

 so at a time when there were ample spaces unoccu- 

 pied in the most eligible parts of the rookery. 



I have mentioned that large masses of ice were 

 stranded by the sea along the shores of the rookery. 

 These fragments of bergs, some of them fifteen 

 to twenty feet in height, formed a miniature 

 mountain range along the shore. All day parties of 

 penguins were to be seen assiduously climbing the 

 steep sides of this little range. Time after time, 

 when half way up, they would descend to try 

 another route, and' often when with much pains 

 one had scaled a slippery incline, he would come 

 sliding to the bottom, only to pick himself up and 

 have another try. (Fig. G3.) 



Generally, this [climbing was done by small 

 parties who had clubbed together, as they generally 

 do, from social inclination. It was not unusual for 



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