MURPIIV ; 
PlCNGl’IXS OP SOUTH GICORGIA. 
107 
In this jxiper I shall refer to the kin^' ])en^'uiii coniinunities of oiir 
acquaintance as the Possession Bay colony, the Orace Olacier colon_\’, and 
the Lucas Glacier colon\-, res])ectively. I failed to find a trace of the 
colony in Antarctic Bay which is recorded by Lbnnber^', and which is 
known to have existed as late as the year 1905. 
With the exception of a single king ])enguin that came out on the 
beach of King lulward Cove, Cumberland Bay, on November 26, 1912, 
no exanqde of the s])ecies was seen far from the rookeries. 
On December 16 many of the kings at the Grace Glacier colony, 
(No. I, of fig. i), which lay on a .slight ri.se behind the beach, were 
incubating eggs, while at the same time half a dozen young of the 
previous >'ear, fully grown but with ragged patches of long down .still 
attached to their contour feathers, were a.s.sociating with free adult 
birds.* The sitters stretched up to as great a height as possible at the 
approach of their first human visitors (at lea.st during that season), and 
clung tenaciously to their eggs. After the members of our crew had 
gathered many eggs and had put them in one spot on the ground, the 
robbed penguins approached the jfile and sl}dy appropriated eggs to replace 
the lost ones. But not 011I3" did the}- attempt to take one egg — the proper 
complement — several tried to tuck hvo between their thighs. One bird 
])atheticalh^ attempted to gather up an egg which had been crushed flat 
when a sailor, tip])ing its owner forward, had seized it too roughhv 
In common with the emperor penguin ( A. forsteri) the king penguin 
develops in.satiable “.sitting” propemsities. Repeatedh' I saw robbed 
kings mothering smooth stones in place of eggs, and tho.se which did not 
have reconr.se to such cold solace shuffled around on the full extent of the 
foot for a while after losing their egg, instead of ri.sing at once to the 
ordinary digitigrade gait. It takes them some hours to become accustomed 
to an emptv egg repo.sitory. The egg, as Weddell correcth* infers, is 
carried in the space between belly, tail, and feet. I was never able, how- 
ever, to di.scover in either .sex aipvthing re.sembling a “ cavitv ” such as 
W'eddell mentions. The ])o.sition of the .sitting king penguin is .sati.s- 
factoril}- de.scribed b>- the accompanving ])hotogra])h.s — .squatty, with 
inturned toes, depre.s.sed tail, and a broad tran.sver.se fold of skin covering 
the front of the egg which is rai.sed above the ground and rests u])on the 
bird’s metatarsi. 
* I wa.s not able, cither at this time or later, to eontirin Weddell's obsta vation that moltini;; 
king penguins are repelled by the others, althongh both molters and sitters are given to congregatitig 
principally with their own kind. 
