EMPEROR PENGUINS 



along the face of the great Barrier to the eastward, 

 we saw large numbers of Emperors, especially to 

 the extreme eastward where a heavy hang of pack-ice 

 blocked our further passage, and I have little doubt 

 that future exploration will disclose a rookery or 

 rookeries in this direction. 



Again, in the spring of 1912, when nearing the 

 end of a sledge journey from the northward to Cape 

 Evans we passed large gatherings of Emperor 

 penguins on some very old sea-ice under the Barrier's 

 edge, along the southern end of McMurdo Sound, 

 and it seems not at all unlikely that they may 

 breed here too. Unfortunately we were unable at 

 that time to make detours, so had to leave the 

 question unsettled, but if they do breed here, they 

 must have far to go to get food during those 

 winters when the sea-ice does not break out of the 

 Sound. 



The growth of the Emperor chick is slow, when 

 compared with the mushroom-like rate at which 

 the Adelie youngster increases its substance. 



Approximately the egg is laid at the beginning 

 of July and hatched out some seven or eight weeks 

 later. During the period of incubation, which duty 

 is shared by all, male and female ahke, the egg is 

 held in a loose fold of skin at the lower part of the 



137 



•J. 



