THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



birds, or peck at any young one which comes in its way. 



There are real instances of altruism or kindness to 

 strangers. Our passage through the rookery frightened 

 away the parent of a very young chick. A bird passing 

 at the distance of a few yards noticed it and came over to 

 it. He cocked his head on one side and looked at it, as 

 if saying: " Hullo! this little beggar's deserted; must do 

 something for him." He tickled its bill, as the parents 

 do when coaxing the very young chicks to feed, but it 

 was too much frightened to feed. After coaxing it in 

 this way for some time he turned away and put some food 

 upon the ground, and, lifting a httle in his bill, he put 

 some on each side of the chick's bill. Just then the right- 

 ful parent returned and the helper ran off. This was not 

 an isolated case, but was observed on several occasions. 



One incident seemed to reveal true social instinct. 

 From a small colony of about two dozen nests all the 

 eggs but one were taken in order to find out if the birds 

 would lay again. As it turned out they did not. The 

 birds sat on their empty nests for some time, then they 

 disappeared. When the time came for the solitary egg 

 to hatch, about a dozen of the nests were reoccupied and 

 the birds took their share in defending the one chick. 



Departure of the Young 



When they have shed most of their down the young 

 birds congregate at the edge of the sea. They cease 

 from hunting the old ones for food, and appear to be 

 waiting for something. When the right time comes, which 

 they seem to know perfectly, they dive into the sea, some- 

 times in small parties, sometimes singly, disappear for 

 a time, and may be seen popping up far out to sea. They 

 dive and come up very awkwardly, but swim well. 



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