Evening star., 1954-11-26
Sub-Antorctic Island
Is Home of Giant Birds
Penguins and AIbotrosses
Gather in. Odd comrudeship
By Thomos r. Henry

A land where snow falls 500 days
each year
A land where Arctic and Antarctic
birds gather In strange conrade-
ship
The home Of one Of the earth's
greatest feathered conglomerations,
from giant penguins to wandering al
batrosses with 12-foot wing spreads
Such is Heard Island. the sub-Ant-
arctic island midway in longitude be-
tween South Africa and Australia,
where the Australian government has
maintained q permanent observing
party for the past year.
The observations are those Of DR..
John Bechervaise, leader Of the ex-
pedition, who now has returned to
Australia. The island, which contains
about $50 square miles. consists es-
sentially Of one great snow-covered
mountain, the 9,000-feet-high Big Ben.
with its shore lines.
It is. DR.. Bechervaise says. appar-
entity the last-and perhaps the only
way station Of the white-capped Arctic
tern which migrates annually from the
North Pole to the Antarctic without
hitherto known stopping places on
the way. At Heard Island the wanderer
pauses to look around before taking up
its home on the Antarctic ice pack.
Here it foregathers with Its relatives,
the Antarctic terms, that are permanent
residents of the Far South, and the two
species flutter and feed together in the
beating surf.
Home Of GentOo Penguin.
The island is q permanent home Of
the Gentoo penguin, which feeds on
fish caught near the shores and never
wanders A close relative, however, is
the chinstrap penguin, very much
wanderer over the ice foes. Early in
the far southern spring the gentoo lays
eggs and settles down on the nests.
About a month later the chinstraps
come in considerable numbers and
sometimes take over the gentoo nests.
Then they lay no eggs of their own but
complete the Matching and raising OF
their relatives young. Due to this prac-
tice. the Australian scientist points out.
the gentoo population always Is large;
that of the chinstraps small. Most
abundant on the island are the chat
tering macaroni and rockhopper pen
gums. both Of which range considerably
north of the ice pack. Both varieties
show some variations in the curious
penguin family life First to arrive in
the spring are the females that prepare
the nests, lay the eggs, and start
Matching them Exactly two weeks later,
almost on the hour, the males come in
from the sea by thousands. The females
Immediately leave the nests and take
out to sea. The males take over. This
is repeated every two weeks until the
chicks are Matched and big enough to
require that both parents forage to get
them food. Then they are placed in
nurseries, or "creches," where they are
tended and guarded by few adults of
both sexes that apparently have been
designated as nurses.
Male Birds Fight.
During the penguin breeding season.
Or. Bechervaise says, the island looks
like an enormous chicken yard, with
constant squawking and fighting among
the males.
The ice cliffs of Big Ben are covered
with the nests of black-browed alba
trosses Apparently no new nests are
built, none ever abandoned and none
ever unoccupied. This. DR.. Bechervaise
says, is striking example Of the pre-
else balance Of nature in the Ant
arctic, where life allows for no housing
shortage"
He was not able to find nests of the
wandering albatroSs there. 1t requires
a full year for a chick of This giant
species to attain full growth. and it
cannot stand the intense winter cold
when growing. Instead, this fabulous
bird nests on the plains of Kerguelen
Land, somewhat farther north, where
the birds are found nesting in solitary
grandeur on nests which sometimes are
mile apart.
Efforts at banding in order to trace
the migration of Antarctic birds have
been indifferently successful. It has
been especially difficult and dangerous
to band chicks of the giant petrels, with
their razor-sharp bills. In some cases,
however, it has been possible to invade
their rookeries by torchlight and band
the young. These have been picked up
barely two months later as much as
5000 miles away.
Although within the zone of perma-
nent freezing. the Australian scientist
points out. the island contains scant
vegetation from which birds can get
some sustenance. There are sparse
tufts of grass and poor variety Of
Kerguelen cabbage. plant indigenous
to the Antarctic.