THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



Ceremonies of Meeting 

 Emperors are very ceremonious in meeting other 

 Emperors or men or dogs. They come up to a party of 

 strangers in a stragghng procession, some big important 

 aldermanic fellow leading. At a respectful distance from 

 the man or dog they halt, the old male waddles close up 

 and bows gravely till his beak is almost touching his 

 breast. Keeping his head bowed he makes a long speech, 

 in a muttering manner, short sounds following in groups 

 of four or five. Having finished the speech the head is 

 still kept bowed a few seconds for pohteness sake, then 

 it is raised and he describes with his bill as large a circle 

 as the joints of his neck will allow, looking in your face 

 at last to see if you have understood. If you have not 

 comprehended, as is usually the case, he tries again. He 

 is very patient with your stupidity, and feels sure that he 

 will get it into your dull brain if he keeps at it long 

 enough. By this time his followers are getting impatient. 

 They are sure he is making a mess of it. Another male 

 will waddle forward with dignity, elbow the first aside as 

 if to say, " I'll show you how it ought to be done," and 

 go through the whole business again. Their most solemn 

 ceremonies were used towards the dogs, and three old 

 fellows have been seen calmly bowing and speaking simul- 

 taneously to a dog, which for its part was yelping and 

 straining at its chain in the effort to get at them. 



Left to themselves the Emperor penguins seem per- 

 fectly peaceable, and no sign of quarrelling was ever 

 noticed. When a party of them was driven into a narrow 

 space they resented the jostling, and flippers were freely 

 used, making resounding whacks, which apparently are 

 not felt through the dense feathery fur. The flipper 

 strikes with equal facility forward or backward. 



They seem to regard men as penguins like themselves. 



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