The Coolidge examiner., 1933-06-30

is likely TO ensue. With beaks and
fiippers they go for each other, de-
livering vicious cuts and stabs and
raining blows about them with
such speed that the eye can hardly
follow. If the fair object of all this
excitement has a preference for
one of the combatants, she may
enter the fray on his side; but
more often she will sit serenely by
while her admirers do battle. Even
tuGly one of them will beat
forced retreat and leave the spoils
of war to his conqueror.
After courtship comes the impor-
tant business of nest-building and
this, too, is accompanied by much
ado. An Adelie's nest consists of
loose pile of small stones, quite
unadorned or softened with lining;
but, unfortunately for the peace of
the avian community, there is not
in the near vicinity a sufficient sup
ply of such building material to go
ter into the life of a penguin. His
soul is filled with a great desire
and he longs to supply his wife
with more and better stones for
the construction of their little love
nest, but there are none to be
had, with honor.
Soon he covets those within his
neighbor's stone pile, and, having
thus broken one commandment, he
Skids farther along the downward
path and before long is engaged in
taking what he can while the neigh
Dor isn't looking.
Constant vigilance is the price
that must be paid for keeping a
stone bungalow under ones feath-
ers in city Of penguins.
After the newlyweds have be-
come proficient enough at the gen.
tie art of purloining stones to be
able to maintain a nest, two eggs.
are laid and the process of incuba-
tion commences. This lasts about
month, with both birds partici-
pating, for they have strong
parental instinct and sit patiently
for long hours at time to protect
their eggs from the harsh Antarctic
blasts
While sitting on the nests, hen
birds amuse themselves by at
tempting to reach out with their
beaks and lift a stone from the
pile next door. If detected, and
they frequently are, this is sig
nal for squabble, and, without
leaving their nests, the two ladies'
try to bite out each others tongues.
| Happily, they seldom succeed.
Chicks Are Always Hungry.
When hatched, the chicks are
little balls of sooty down, and they
wear their "baby clothes" for some
weeks before exchanging them for
suits of feathers. They start get
ting hungry soon after they are
hatched, and continue in a state
! Of unappeased appetite as long as
there is the smallest empty space
within their elastic young bodies.
Adelies live largely on a small,
red, shrimplike crustacean which
| occurs in amazing numbers in the
Antarctic seas. There is little or
nothing for them to eat on the
land, and therefore, until the chicks
are fully developed and able to-
take care of themselves in the wa
ter, they must be fed. This their
elders accomplish by means of
regurgitation.
The bogy man for baby penguins
takes the form of skua gull. This
unpleasant bird conceives it's mis-
sion in life to be the prevention
of overpopulatiOn among the Ad-
| elieS, and woe be unto the unWary
chick which wanders away from
it's comrades. A marauding skua
will drop down beside 1t and with
a few savage blows of it's strong
beak end the chicks earthly
career and feast upon the remains.
Adelies have never been success
fully transplanted from snowy
wastes. However, some of their
cousins have survived the milder
temperatures of Europe and Amer
| lea and are to be found in certain.
| of the larger geological gardens.
One may visit pair at the Ma
tional Geological park at Washing
| ton, D. c., and find them well dis
posed. AS you enter the inclosure
both of them come forward with
grave and dignified demeanor and
, emit "quaarks" of greeting. Com
| ing closer, they give you a careful
| inspection, out of first one eye and
then the other, and then sit down
with an air of resignation and an
expression of utter boredom. Your
feelings are a bit ruffled until the
keeper assures you that their be-
havior is due to the keen disap-
pointment they experienced on
finding that you were not a fish.
When the new wing of the bird
house at the Washington zoo is.
built, one end of it is to hold a