The exact whereabouts of the Adélie penguins during the winter months has been much discussed by different writers. It is agreed that they repair to the pack-ice, but our knowledge of the movements of this pack is very vague at the present time, and so unfortunately I can give but a rough idea of the subject.
I have collected and noted down the latest evidence for the benefit of the zoologists of future expeditions who may wish to investigate the matter further, and I am indebted for nearly the whole of it to Commander Harry L. Pennell, R.N., commander of the Terra Nova from 1910 to 1913, who kindly drew up for me Tables A and B (see pp. [13] and [14]).
Probably the information which more nearly concerns the penguins of Cape Adare rookery will be found in [Table A]. The birds from Cape Crozier and Cape Royds rookeries must have some four hundred miles further to travel when they go North in the autumn than those at Cape Adare.
PART I
THE FASTING PERIOD
Diary from October 13 to November 3, describing the arrival of the Adélie penguins at the rookery, and habits during the periods of mating and building.
The first Adélie penguins arrived at the Ridley Beach rookery, Cape Adare, on October 13. A blizzard came on then, with thick drift which prevented any observations being made. The next day, when this subsided, there were no penguins to be seen.
On October 15 two of them were loitering about the beach. During the forenoon they were separate, but in the afternoon they kept company, and walked over to the south-east corner of the rookery under the cliff of Cape Adare, where they were sheltered from the cold breeze.
On October 16 at 11 A.M. there were about twenty penguins arrived. Several came singly, and one little party of three came up together. On arrival they wandered about by themselves, and stood or walked about the beach, giving one the impression of simply hanging about, waiting for something to “turn up.”
By 4 P.M. there must have been close on a hundred penguins at the rookery. It was a calm day and misty, so that I could not see far out across the sea-ice, but so far it was evident that the birds were not arriving in batches, but just dribbling in. They were then for the most part squatting about the rookery, well scattered, some solitary, others in groups, and facing in all directions. ([Fig. 9.]) They were not on the prominences where the nesting sites are, but in the hollows and on the snow of the frozen lakes. There was no sign of love-making or any activity whatever. All were in fine plumage and condition.