ce,
seals and penguins formed staple articles of the diet of the men. Though
the flesh of both of these creatures has a strong and peculiar flavor,
it was found to be an agreeable change from pemican and other preserved
material. So vigorous were the men's appetites, stimulated by the
excessive cold, that when they labored hard sometimes seven meals were
served daily.

Because of the thick layer of fat covering their bodies, penguins were
used as fuel when the coal began to give out. Penguins are strange,
interesting sea fowls having an inquisitive and fearless nature. At one
of the rocky shore rookeries millions of these grotesque birds were
seen.

The type of penguin found here is a very handsome bird, decked out in
rather gay colors, having a jet black head, bluish-gray back and wings,
a yellow breast and bright spot of orange on the neck, and an
orange-colored lower bill. As though proud of his multicolored dress he
walks with slow and majestic step. His height is about four feet and his
average weight eighty-five pounds. He makes free use of his voice which
is loud and shrill. Whenever a group of penguins see an object that
excites their curiosity they will stand around it in a circle and gaze
at it intently. Lieutenant Shackleton had a graphophone as a part of his
equipment, and whenever it was used, during the season when penguins
were about, they used to gather around the instrument by the hundreds,
seeming to be quite as much interested as his human listeners.

When all other birds flee at the approach of the antarctic winter the
eccentric penguin defies the cold and hatches its single egg in the dead
of winter, with the thermometer ranging from eighteen to seventy degrees
below zero. It does this by carrying the egg between its legs, resting
it on the back of the foot while a fold of heavily feathered loose skin
completely covers it up.

After the chick is hatched it takes the place of the egg and is carried
around in this queer receptacle. When the chick wants food it utters a
cry. Thereupon the parent bends its neck down, and the little one
thrusts its head into the parental mouth to help itself to regurgitated
food. The adult fowls of both sexes are fond of nursing the chickens and
frequently quarrel over the possession of the little ones, often with
fatal results to the younglings. Over half of the chicks die or are
killed by kindness.

The expedition to the antarctic commanded by Lieutenant Ernest