Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-01

hunter. The most hated bird OF the Antarctic
is the Skau. or rubber gull, which feeds on eggs
and young of the penguins.
A ND last of all there are those amazing birds
of the frozen south, the penguins them
selves The little Adele, or black-throated PEN
gun standing about Is inches high, nests in
colonies containing prodigious numbers.
DR.. Murray Levick who accompanied the
British Antarctic expedition, has written a de-
lightful book on penguins; hope there Is a
copy in Comdr: ByrdS library, for Byrd
was vastly amused when he saw the peculiar
antics of those toboggan birds that walk for
miles up the mountains and slide down the ice
on their bellies
But when Antarctic Winter comes with four
months of night. all of these birds move north
ward, in every direction from Antarctica, north
ward toward America, toward Africa, toward
Australia. And the lone queer bird of the polar
midnight is another penguin which, as one
might expect in Topsy-Turvy Land reverses its
season. 1t is the giant of its family, the en-
peror penguin which Comdr. Byrd first saw as
he landed last December on Ross Ice Barrier
at Discovery Inlet.
The emperor penguin stands feet high and
weighs 30 pounds and more. 1t is most south
ern of all its tribe, and with its mate in mid
Winter it waddleS up the mountains of ice to-
ward the South Pole. At temperature Of so
degrees and go degrees below zero, the female
lays and matches her egg To keep the egg
from freezing en- the ice, she rests it on top Of
her feet, and over 1t she hangs the feathers
and fappy skin of her belly. When she tires OF
her task she rolls the egg on her mates feet
and makes him take his turn.
Comdr. Byrd has promised to bring an en-
peror penguin back for the PHILADELPHIA Zoo
and am sure that the children of America
believe fulfillment of that promise mere inn
to answer in the next six months. Certainly my
youngsters do.
VET should like for him to assure me that
Ross Sea and Weddell Sea do not meet in
the middle and cut Antarctica in two.
should like to know if there areSqueer fossil
penguins found in the rocks, and coal and Rold
in the mountains
Is Antarctica free of dust? and does that pre-.
vent rain from forming and falling? Meteorolos
gist Haynes hopes to learn.
Does bad weather at the South Pole affect
the weather and crops in Kansas and Missis.
Sippi? Haynes hopes to learn that as we'll
Does the Antarctic Summer uncover land
pockets. or GASES, where life comes out of hiber-
nation? If so, what will that life be? and on
what continent will its nearest of kin be found?
Is the volcano CT Mount Erebus on the edge
of Ross Barrier, part of the Fire Ring" of the
Pacifc-Graham Land and the Andes, the
ALheI1Cdn ROCKIES, the hurlleS ana Japan, New
Guinea and New Zealand.
rs the South Polar ice cap shrinking and how
fast? Prof. David who located the South
Magnetic Pole, says that 1t contains ten quad.
rillion tons Of ice, and that when it melts It
will raise the level Of all oceans SO feet mum.
dating London New York and many of the
beautiful ports of the world. Then we should
once mere have tropical vegetation at the Poles.
Even, the outlines of Antarctica, for at least
90 per cent of its shore, are based on guesswork
Of scientists. The continent has never been
crossed. although the distance from Ross Sea
to Weddell Sea is but 1900 miles. Ccmdr.
Byrd will probably be the first to make IT,
Whether he does or not, each new line of air.
plane fight viii mean new map Information n
help cle;s.' up the unknown at the bottom of the
world.
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