I04 BROOKLYN IXSTITrTE IMUSEfM. SCIENCE lULLETIX 2. 5- 
tenijieratL- life /.out;, and, <in the other, ncirthward friim an Antarctic sea. 
To-day the domiuant .specie.s at South Georgia is Pygosa/is papua . while 
the splendid king penguin {Aptcnodytes patachonica), likewise native to 
the Subantarctic, occupies numerically the place of a poor second. 
My field work at South (reorgia extended from Xo\-enil)er. 191 2, 
until March, 1913, thus including the greater ]iart of the ]ienguins' 
breeding sea.son.* Conditions, however, were not faxurahle for a 
sustained and exhaustive study of these fascinating birds. Working 
entirely alone, with a multiplicity of intere.sts ; living for the most part 
on board the .sealing brig Daisy, which was anchored miles distant from 
the penguin rookeries ; stormliound for days at a time without hope of 
being able to get ashore — I should have had enough to contend again.st 
without the added factor of hiunan interference. But the ignorance and 
destructiveness of the Daisy s crew were the greatest of all hindrances to 
succe.ssful work. Unre.strained, the sailors and officers periodically raided 
the penguin settlements, killed large numbers of the adults not only for 
food, but for the skins as well, and destroyed many more of the eggs 
than they could either eat or take back to the United States as market- 
able ■ ' curio.sities. " The mo.st deplorable incident was the wholesale 
theft of eggs from two colonies of king penguins at the Bay of Isles. 
Manx' of these contained large embrxos, and such eggs as could be neither 
eaten nor blown were thrown overboard. As a result of this piece of 
vandalism, I was denied the privilege of seeing any young king penguins 
during our entire visit. Moreover, the jiitiable renmant of this fine 
species was doubtless seriously set liack in its waning struggle to kee]) a 
foothold at South Georgia. 
Under such limitations the following ol)servations were made. They 
are .scattered notes, jotted down in the field ; linketl together the>' form 
at best a fragmentar\- record of the life histories of the king iienguin and 
Pygosaiis pa pita . 
Aptcnodytes patachonica Forstt-r 
.//>/,7/,.,/i7'<A/>("'"A'<"""' <^at. B. Rrit. .Mus., XXVI, p. 627. 
The king penguin was formerlx' an alnnidant bird at South (Georgia, 
hut it is now ob\-iously in danger of extinction. Captain James Cook, 
the disco\'erer, foiuid large numbers of the sjiecies on the (occasions of his 
