BIOLOGY 



came and water was given to them, they did not know 

 what to make of it at first. They soon learned to appre- 

 ciate it, and to consider it as the most valuable of all 

 things, for of food there was always super-abundance. 

 In late summer, when the snow had nearly all disappeared, 

 and the lake by the house was frozen, then came a sort of 

 water famine. We had no time to break the ice and give 

 them water more than once a day. They got pretty thirsty 

 in the sun, and some of them showed a good deal of intel- 

 ligence in asking for and dealing with water. 



One day, on going out of the house, I heard the dog 

 Roland barking furiously. Roland was tied at a good 

 distance from the house, and for some time I paid no 

 attention to the barking. When at last I looked in the 

 right direction, Roland picked up her water tin and 

 waved it frantically over her head. 



An old dog. Wolf, was so convinced of the value of 

 water that, when a bowlful was given to him, he did not 

 drink it all at once, but tried to keep a reserve for future 

 use. He tried to bury it, as dogs habitually do with food. 

 He carried the bowl carefully in his mouth, placed it in 

 a hollow, and covered it up with gravel. Of course he 

 lost the water, but the attempt deserved success. 



In their hunting they showed much intelligence. They 

 took much greater liberties with the helpless Weddell seal 

 than with the more active and aggressive crabeater, and 

 as for the sea-leopard they seemed to know enough to 

 leave him alone altogether. They hunted in couples or 

 parties, and so got the better of the penguins. The pen- 

 guins appear to be provided with efficient defensive 

 weapons, but the dogs learned where to seize them safely. 

 While one dog kept the attention of a penguin in front, 

 another slipped round behind it and snapped at its leg. 



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