Antarctic Penguins A Study of Their Social Habits   By: George Murray Levick

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ANTARCTIC PENGUINS

THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC. Being a Story of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907 1909. By Sir E. H. SHACKLETON, C.V.O. With Introduction by HUGH ROBERT MILL, D.S.O. An Account of the First Journey to the South Magnetic Pole by Professor T. W. EDGWORTH DAVID, F.R.S. 2 vols., crown 4to. Illustrated with Maps and Portraits. 36s net. Edition de Luxe, with Autographs, Special Contributions, Etched Plates, and Pastel Portraits. £10 10s net. New and Revised Edition. With Coloured Illustrations and Black and White. Crown 8vo, 6s net.

SHACKLETON IN THE ANTARCTIC. (HERO READERS.) Crown 8vo, 1s 6d.

LOST IN THE ARCTIC. Being the Story of the "Alabama" Expedition. By Captain Ejnar Mickelson. Crown 4to. Illustrations and Maps. 18s net.

IN NORTHERN MISTS. Arctic Exploration in Early Times. By FRIDTJOF NANSEN. With numerous Illustrations and Coloured Frontispieces. 2 vols., cr. 4to, 30s net.

LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN

[Illustration: "OCCASIONALLY AN UNACCOUNTABLE 'BROODINESS' SEEMED TO TAKE POSSESSION OF THE PENGUINS" (Page 108) Frontispiece]

ANTARCTIC PENGUINS

A STUDY OF THEIR SOCIAL HABITS

BY DR. G. MURRAY LEVICK, R.N.

ZOOLOGIST TO THE BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION [1910 1913]

LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN

First Published March 1914

Second Impression May 1914

LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1914

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

PART I

THE FASTING PERIOD 17

PART II

DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE ADÉLIE PENGUIN 51

APPENDIX 119

PART III

McCORMICK'S SKUA GULL 125

A SHORT NOTE ON EMPEROR PENGUINS 134

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"Occasionally an unaccountable 'broodiness' seemed to take possession of the penguins" Frontispiece

To face p.

An angry Adélie 2

Dozing 4

Waking up, stretching, and yawning 4

Pack ice 8

Heavy seas in the autumn 8

"throw up masses of ice" 10

"which are frozen into a compact mass" 10

"and later, form the beautiful terraces of the ice foot" 14

Penguins at the rookery 14

In the foreground a mated pair have begun to build 20

The rookery beginning to fill up 22

"The hens would keep up this peck pecking hour after hour" 24

An affectionate couple 24

"Side by side ... nests of very big stones and nests of very small stones" 26

On the march to the rookery 28

Part of the line of approaching birds, several miles in length 30

Arriving at the rookery 32, 34

Adélies arriving 36

A cock carrying a stone to his nest 36

Several interesting things are taking place here 38

Three cocks in rivalry 40

Two of the cocks squaring up for battle 40

Hard at it 42

The end of the battle 42

The proposal 44

Cocks fighting for hens 46, 48

Penguin on nest 48

Showing the position of the two eggs 50

An Adélie in "ecstatic" attitude 50

Floods 52

Flooded 54

A nest with stones of mixed sizes 54