BIRDS OF THE AUSTRALASIAN SOUTH POLAR QUADRANT. 
only do the old feathers stand out at right angles to the skin, but the thick 
layer of fat in which the new feathers are embedded is still below the skin. 
As the new feathers develop this laj^er of fat diminishes, and the difference 
in the close fit of the glossy blue-black plumage and the old dishevelled loose 
brown coat is more than ever marked. 
The downy plumage is carried for one month from December 15th to 
January 9th and is moulted between January 9th and 16th, and the ensuing 
juvenile white-throated plumage is carried for thirteen months from Jan¬ 
uary 16th to February 15th of the following year. The next moult, to the 
black-throated adult plumage, follows between February 15th and March 7th. 
It is possible that a year more is spent in the pack-ice after the adult 
plumage has been acquired, and that these are the black-throated birds which 
are seen in such numbers in the pack-ice in January, many hundreds of 
miles away from the business of the nesting colonies. If this be so it would 
postpone the commencement of breeding till the end of the bird’s third 
year, and this is quite possibly the case. One thing is certain, that having 
assumed the livery of the adult, which is identical for male and female, by the 
month of February, they wear it without much deterioration throughout 
the winter in the pack. The moult in all stages of immaturity is autumnal, 
and being also an autumnal moult in the adult, it may be called post¬ 
nuptial. 
Dr. Sharpe, in the Report on the Collections of Natural History of the 
“ Southern Cross,” published in 1902, says: “ The nestlings are covered 
with silver-grey down, with a black head and face ; the throat also is shaded 
with sooty-black. As the bird increases in size the silver-grey appearance 
gives place to sooty down, and a little black spot shows the position of the 
tail. The temperature taken alongside an incubating egg showed 72° F.” 
When fighting, the males stand erect and deal each other resounding 
blows with their flippers, first one then the other, with astonishing rapidity. 
When one is knocked down the beak of his opponent is brought into play 
with no slight effect. These fights lasted as long as a quarter of an hour, 
in fact, they were not terminated until one was completely conquered. 
The vanquished bird generally presented a pitiful appearance, being covered 
with gore and devoid of much of his plumage. 
The method of feeding the young was interesting. The baby places 
its head into the open mouth of the parent and devours the food forced 
up into the throat; 
86 
