I9II] AT THE EMPEROR ROOKERY 39 
along to this point the ice foot would have given us no 
difficulty at all, but we had left it behind at the man- 
hole. [A whole procession of Emperors came round 
just as they were coming back from the floe.] 
The small number of Emperor penguins collected 
here at this time is surprising. There were not more 
than loo birds, and without forcing all of them to abandon 
their eggs it was impossible to guess how many had laid 
or were incubating. It looked to me as though every 
fourth or fifth bird had an egg, but this is only a guess 
and may be quite wrong, though I am certain that there 
were more birds without eggs than with eggs. Why 
there should be so few birds here this July, when there 
were so many more here in September and October ten 
years ago, is difficult to understand. The examination 
of the three eggs we have brought back with us may 
throw some light on the question. They may have 
only just begun to lay, and these may have been the 
earliest arrivals. Others may yet arrive in numbers and 
lay this year. 
Another possible explanation is that the ice has not 
remained in, and that the rookery has been dissipated 
lately ; and some support is lent to this possibility by the 
absence of all snowdrifts on to the sea ice from the ice foot. 
I see no way of deciding this question except by 
another visit to the rookery — either this year in September 
or October — or next year, preferably in August. The 
most valuable work probably could be done in August, 
and a visit would be much facilitated if by any possibility 
some supply of oil and food could be left at the Adelie 
