FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
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on to the ice again to join their companions. The 
jumps they give out of the water are astonishingly high ; 
three feet seems to be an easy jump, but I have often 
seen them fail at higher attempts. 
At the same time I shot a tern of a kind that I have 
not seen elsewhere ; but, much to my regret, there was no 
time to pick it up. I also shot two sheathbills that were 
either with the penguins at first, or came and joined the 
battle ; they fed on the blood as we shot the penguins. 
These are the only land animals known to exist in the 
Antarctic ; close at hand their dove-like characteristics 
disappear, and the flesh-eating character shows itself. 
They are about the size of a bantam hen, with grey- 
coloured, strong legs, and feet something like a hen's or an 
oyster-catcher's ; the bill is deep, sharp-pointed, curved 
above and below, and strong, the colour, grey-green, and 
yellow. Over its base there is a sort of sheath that gives 
the bird its name ; round the base of the sheath and round 
its beady black eye there is a whity-pink coloured wattle, 
something like that of a carrier-pigeon's. They have a 
bony excrescence at the joint of their wings that corre- 
sponds to the wrist. On skinning them I was astonished 
at the strength of their bones and muscles, and especially 
at the very small amount of fat and feathering they have 
to protect them from the cold. A common wood-pigeon 
has more feathers on it. 
Monday^ 2nd Jan. — Kept steaming along the pack- 
edge E. by N. all night, picking up seals. This morning 
they were very numerous — ten, twelve, and twenty on a 
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