Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1907-06-06
The Emperor Penguin.

their eggs in the darkness Of a polar
winter, nor do many birds appear to
think that sea ice is the most attrac-
tive ground to SIT on.
when in addition to this, !" writes
Edmund A. Wilson in "The Voyage
of the Discovery" I'VE find the empe-
TOR penguin Matching out its chicksiu
the coolest month of the whole ant
arctic year. when the mean tempera-
ture for the month is Is degrees be-
low zero F., and the minimum may
fall to So degrees, 1 think we may
rightly consider the bird to be eccen-
tric.
1.-THE emperor penguin stands near
lY four feet high and weighs upward
of eighty to ninety pounds. He is an
exceedingly handsome bird, with
rich, black head, blush gray back
and wings, lemon yellow breast,
with satin.like gloss on the feathers
and brilliant patch Of orange on the
neck and lower bill.
His movements are slow and state
ly, and the dignity of his appearance
is much increased by the upright car
riage of his head and bill.
His voice is loud and trumpet
like and rings out in the pack ice
with a note of defiance that makes
one feel man is the real intruder.
Penguins have no fear, but an abun.
dance Of inquisitiveness, and will walk
up to human being and stand in a
ring around him, with an occasional
remark from one to the other, dis
GUESSING, no donbt, the nature Of this
new and upright neighbor.
1.-The method employed by the en-
peror penguin for carrying the egg
and chick upon bis feet is shared ALEC
by the king penguin in the sub.ant.
arctic area, as we saw in our visit to
their rookeries in the Macquarie Is
lands.
"The king penguin We saw as he
sat in mud and puddles, with his sin.
gle egg upon his feet, and now we cav
the emperor penguin doing precisely
the same thing with his single chicken
to keep it off the ice. and we are
agreed that the term pouch, which
has been used in this connection, is
one which not only does not describe
the matter, but is anqtomically wrong
and misleading.
1.-THE single egg, or the chick, sits
resting on the dorsum of the foot,
wedged in between the legs and the
lower abdomen, and over it falls
fold of heavily feathered skin, which
is very loose, and can completely
cover up and hide the egg or chick
from view. When the chick is hum
cry or inquisitive, it pokes out from
under the maternal Cor paternaD lap
pet piebald downy head Of black
and white, emitting its shrill and per.
sistent pipe until the mother (or the
father fills it up.
1.-THE feeding is managed as with
cormorants and many other birds,
the little one finding regurgitsted
food when it thrusts it's head inside
the parents mouth.
Il think the chickens hate their
parents, and when one watches the
proceedings i'll rookery it strikes one
as not surprising. In the 6rst place,
there is about one chick to ten or
twelve adults, and each adult has an
overpowering desire to cit on some
thing. Both males and females want
to nurse, and the result is that when
a chicken finds himself alone there is
a rush on the part Of dozen unem-
ployed to seize him.
Naturally he runs away and
lodges here and there till six stone
emperor falls on him, and then begins
a regular football scrimmage, in which
each tries to hustle the other of, and
the end is too often disastrous TO the
chick.
Sometimes be falls into crack
in the ice and stays there TO be frozen
while the parents squabble at the top.
Sometimes, rather than be nursed, l
have seen him crawl in under an ice
ledge and remain there, where the
old ones cannot reach hin. / think
it is not an exaggeration to say that
Of the II per cent that die no lesstbsn
half are killed by kindness"
II Won will make inquiry 1t viii be a