288 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Here is a Picture of Bird Life Undisturbed 
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HE scientific and exploration trip 
to the Antarctic under the 
leadership of Sir Douglas Maw- 
son, 1911-1914, has beyond 
question given the world more 
in the way of results of real 
value than any other expedi¬ 
tion of the kind of which we 
have record. Of course, the trips of this char¬ 
acter recorded as popularly important are those 
which resulted in the achievement of discovery 
of the poles of the earth. In one way this is 
correct. But a trip which included nearly thirty 
scientists of note, which had its work and pro¬ 
gram 'ivided and subdivided as completely and 
accurately as the system which characterizes the 
operation of the German army, was bound to 
reveal important truths. We have to go back 
to expeditions conducted under the authority of 
the late Charles Darwin to find something 
worthy of comparison. 
I11 this short space it is absolutely impossible 
to touch upon the various features of the Maw- 
son expedition, even of the heroic fight of the 
leader of that expedition to get back to his base 
of supplies after having lost his two companions 
—a struggle which revealed the true character 
of this young Australian. It is also impossible 
to more than touch upon any one single feature 
of the trip thoroughly, but to those who delight 
in natural history the descriptions of the bird 
life and of the wild fauna of the Antarctic, 
must prove fascinating. 
We have been led to believe, for instance, that 
the sea elephant is almost an extinct mammal. 
It is, on the North American continent, and the 
few specimens which linger on the lower Cali¬ 
fornia coast and on islands lying off South 
America, are dwindling rapidly. But in the 
Antarctic the sea elephant apparently is as com¬ 
mon as the walrus in the Arctic regions. It 
is, as a matter of fact, the victim of commercial 
greed and is slaughtered by the thousands on 
islands one thousand miles south of New Zea¬ 
land. The scientists of the Mawson party lead 
us to believe that this slaughter does not ex¬ 
ceed the reproductive powers of the herds that 
still remain. That may be true now, but we 
all know what occurs when civilization finds a 
profitable commodity in any form of prevailing 
wild life. 
The Antarctic, be it understood, differs from 
the Arctic in that human habitation is entirely 
lacking. The region is one of such repelling 
climatic conditions that permanent habitation is 
physically impossible. It differs from the Arctic 
in that the southern cap of the globe consists 
of high plateau elevations of from six to ten 
thousand feet, over which winds sweep con¬ 
stantly with a fierceness not known elsewhere in 
the world. 
During the stay of the Mawson party in the 
Antarctic for a period embracing nearly three 
years, the average velocity of the wind for 
months was fifty miles an hour and gales where 
this velocity was trebled were not at all uncom¬ 
mon. In such bleakness it seems incredible 
that life for any warm-blooded creature is pos¬ 
sible. Nevertheless, under such forbidding con¬ 
ditions the greatest remaining masses of bird 
life on the globe are to be encountered. We 
do not mean that where climatic conditions are 
the worst this bird life is the greatest, but with¬ 
in its zones are to be found literally millions of 
those great aquatic birds, the Penguin, which live 
and breed and multiply amazingly. 
Through the courtesy of Sir Douglas Mawson 
tending tor hundreds of miles around the Ant¬ 
arctic circle. 
The Penguins are of several species or sub¬ 
species, the heaviest weighing upward of sixty 
pounds. They formed a goodly portion of the 
dietary stores of the Mawson party and Forest 
and Stream has the word of some of the scien¬ 
tists in the party that the Penguin is food worthy 
of commendation. 
Much that is new as to its breeding and other 
Forest and Stream is able to present an illustra¬ 
tion of one of the big breeding grounds of the 
Great Penguin. No estimate can be placed on 
the number of birds in this picture. They must 
be measured in mass and calculated, for count¬ 
ing is out of the question. And almost infinite 
though the separate specimens shown in this pic 
ture are, the) represent only a limited fraction 
of the whole territory that might be pictured 
habits was discovered and set forth by the Maw¬ 
son scientists. Better than that, thanks to mod¬ 
ern inventions, the moving picture machine was 
brought into play on this expedition and all 
who have had the opportunity of seeing these 
pictures have enjoyed a treat that heretofore of 
necessity has been reserved to those who have 
journeyed to the ends of the earth to see things 
new and strange. 
