MUKPIIY ; 
PKN('iUINS Ol' SOUTH (H-:OK(HA. 
I 19 
])eiiguins. The sitters hiss shar])ly whenever a skua draws near, and 
the nnoccn])ied ])engnins make angr_\' but vain rushes at the connnon 
enemy. 
Besides the hiss of wrath the johnn\' ])engnins liave a \-ariety of 
louder calls. The ordinar\’ trumpeting note sounds like the noi.se of a 
tin horn or the braying of an a.ss ; the sound is double, l)eing produced 
by both ex])iration and ins])iration, and is acconi])anied by a rising and 
falling of the lower throat between the branches of the fnrcnlnm.* The 
voice is pitched in a much lower ke\- than that of the king penguin. 
lbsnall\' the head is ]X)inted upward wdiile the ])engnin trnm])ets. The 
mouth is held wide open, with the .s])in}' tongue showing, and in cool 
weather the exj^elled breath condemses into clouds of va])or. The trum- 
]')etings are often repeated many times wdthont interru])tion ; under ex- 
citement the birds’ whole bodily energy seems to be ])ut into the call. 
Another note is a short, .single "caw,” which the ])engnins are a])t to 
utter as .soon as they emerge from the .sea. This call .sounds like a hail 
from one man to another, and the human suggestion is enhanced by the 
l^engnins’ habit of waving their flippers as if beckoning. The weak 
trum]^etings of ne.stling johnnies have a ])eevish, .scolding qnalit}g even 
hy.sterical at times. The > oung.sters have akso a .soft, ])eeping note, in- 
dicative of well-fed contentment. 
B\- the time of our arrival at South Georgia the nesting .season had 
begun, t and two Cumberland Ba}- rookeries which I visited on December 
3, had already been robbed of their eggs by the crew of a Norwegian 
whaling steamer. The birds had, neverthele.ss, begun to lay a .second 
time, I and mo.st of the ne.sts contained at lea.st one fresh egg. Among 
the eggs were .several "runts,” ])o.s.sibly the result of the abnormal 
ovulation. The smalle.st of the.se imperfect eggs, which contained no 
yolks, measured onh' 24 x 20.5 millimeters. 
On December 23 the large rookery at the Ba\- of Lsles, which had 
not been di.sturbed by human beings, contained ])lenty of > oung ])enguins. 
* The sound can I)C faintly re])rod\iced with the syrinx of a dea.l ])cn;vnin. 
t Von den Steinen records that courtship l)c,uins toward the end of .Septcinl>cr. He found tlie 
first esjffs at Royal l?ay on Oct. 26, 1.SS2. At Kerijnelen Island cgsis are common early in .September. 
Writinj^ of the s]>ecies at the Idalkland Islands, .Abbott, /. c., says that some of their breedinsj- 
])laces are "several miles inland," and that the birds "commence layinij almost always on the .same 
day, VIZ. 7th Octobor." 
J Kidder collected at Kerttnelen Island cjjs^s of this s]>ccies which, he believed, " must have 
been at least the ninth or tenth lajdnt; since the season commenced." .Six consi'cntive layinps have 
been observed at .South Ocoixia after the toss <jf crrs. \'on den .Steinen points out Unit euijs ol the 
.second and later broods are smaller and rounder than those of the lirst, Moreovi'r the size ol the set 
becomes reduced to one eg^sj. 
