Show PENGUIN MOST AMUSING BIRI BIRD life and habits of this queer polar Reside resident nL prepared by national society D C service lc HE penguin colony of the london THE zoo recently presented li a new problem to its keepers when these natives of rigid antarctica suffered from bronchitis among other things mufflers were provided in an attempt to save the birds which are worth several hundred bundred dollars a pair while there are several species of penguins the adelle ot of antarctica which billich was a source of amusement to members of the byrd south role pole expedition tion Is perhaps the most entertaining ta the adelle penguin resembles nothing so go much as a solemn rotund little old gentleman in starched shirt and swallow tall coat and the birds habits are ara as strange as his appearance ile he spends his whole allotted span within the antarctic circle supplying that desolate region ot of ice and snow with one of its few notes ot of life ills wings are water wings which serve him for naught in the air like man he be proposes to the lady of his heart by proffering her a stone he walks erect toddling along with precise and preoccupied mien a though bent on some most important business but more often than not this attitude Is only it a pose time Is really no object to him and after hurrying away in one direction he Is likely to turn and retrace ills his steps or dash away n some other perhaps he may even stop suddenly and tucking his head beneath a flipper go calmly to sleep if pursued or desirous deser ou of moving over soft snow in a hurry burry he turns flints himself into a toboggan by dropping down on his smooth feathered breast and skidding gayly along propelled by both feet and nippers flippers indeed ills his are legion and they make him the most interesting of antarctic creatures and endear him to every explorer 0 of the desolate south polar regions belongs to a first family this strangely manlike bird Is truly an F F A first family of the antarctic tracing his ancient lineage back to those halcyon days of the earths south before the coming of the ahe the penguin resident of antarctica grea great glaciers then in a temperate or perhaps even tropical climate it Is probable that ills his ancestors flew like other birds but as centuries passed into ages and cold crept over the land killing all vegetation the penguins were forced to seek sustenance in the sea eventually their wings adapted themselves to the new mode of life and became the flippers that they are today adelle adelie Is a gregarious creature and in october and november the antarctic a spring he congregates along with countless thousands of his kind in great rookeries rook eries there the age old business of choosing a mate Is ills his first consideration but as with true love elsewhere the course of his bis romance Is not always smooth after deciding in his own mind on the fair lady b he would wed he must not only win her favor but also vanquish whatever hat ever rivals may presen present t in achieving the file first of these designs lie takes a small stone in his beak and lays it humbly at the ladys feet this gift Is 19 accompanied by a soulful gaze from his white rimmed eyes and an unmelodious qua ark from the bottom of his heart very likely he will have to repeat this performance a number of times before he succeeds in breaking through her bashful feminine reserve but lie he is nothing it if not persistent and finally she yields to ills his importunities to the extent of giving him a critical glance thus encouraged li he e assumes his grandest posture and invites further inspection it if he pleases her the lady squawks her approval he adds his bis vocal efforts to make it a duet and both sway away and stretch and gaze heavenward in an ecstacy of penguin ai bliss rivals have vicious fights but gentlemen penguins are not only good lovers they tire are extremely pugna clous as well and when more than one romeo Is attracted to the same juliet a merry fracas Is 1111 likely MY to ensue with beaks and nippers flippers they go for each other delivering vicious cuts and stabs and raining blows about them with will such speed that the eye can hardly follow if the fair object of all this excitement hits has a preference for one of 0 the combatants she may enter the tray fray on his side ilde but more often she h will sit alt serenely by while her admirer admire rit do battle eventually one of them will bent beat a forced retreat and lee leave the spoils spoil of war to bit hi conqueror after courtship comes come the important business of nest building and this too Is accompanied by much ado an aa nest consists consist of a loose pile of small stones quite unadorned or softened Boft ened with lining but unfortunately for the peace of the avlan avian community there Is not in the near vicinity a sufficient supply of such building material to go around then does doeg temptation tempt atlon enter into the life of a penguin ills soul Is filled died with a groat great desire and he longs to supply his hl 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 lils hi neighbors stone pile and having thus thu broken one commandment he skills farther along the downward path and before longis enraged engaged in t taking aking what he can while the neighbor looking constant vigilance Is the price that must be paid for keeping a stone bungalow under ones feathers in a city of penguins after the newlyweds have become proficient enough at the gentle art of of purloining stones to be able to maintain a nests two eggs are laid and them the process of incubation commences this lasts about a month with both birds participating for they hare bare a strong parental instinct and sit patiently for long hours at a time to protect their eggs from the harsh antarctic blasts while sitting on the nests hen ben birtia arouse amuse themselves by attempting to reach out with their beaks and lift a stone from the pile next door it if detected and they frequently are this Is a signal for a squabble and without leaving their nests nesta the two ladle ladies try to bite out each others ton tongues guem 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 or of feathers they start getting 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 adellea live largely on a small red crustacean which occurs la in amazing numbers in the antarctic seas there Is little or nothing tor for them to t eat on the land and therefore until the chicks are fully developed and able to take care of themselves in the water they must be fed this their elders accomplish by means of regurgitation the bogy man for baby penguins takes the form of a gull this unpleasant bird conceives its mission in life to be the prevention of overpopulation among the and woo he unto the unwary chick which wan lers away from its comrades A A ma skits aul wul drop down aown beside aid it and with a few savage blows blow if f its strong benk beak end the chicks anthly career and feast upon the remains adelien have never been successful successfully lr transplanted from snowy wastes now how ever some of their cousins have survived the milder temperatures of europe and america and are to be found in certain of the larger zoological gardens one way may visit a pair at the national zoological park at washington D C and find them well disposed As your you enter the inclosure both of them come forward with grave and dignified demeanor and emit qua arks of greeting coming closer they give yott a careful inspection out of first one eye eve and then the other and then sit awn down with an air of resignation and an expression of utter boredom your feell feelings are a bit ruffled until the keeper assures you that their behavior Is due to the keen disappointment they experienced on finding that you were not a fish when the new wing of the birdhouse at the file washington zoo la Is built one end of it is to hold a large glassed inclosure within this ice machines are to create an antarctic atmosphere in which it Is hoped that a colony of penguins will live and flourish perhaps science will yet devise a by those of us who cannot well travel to the south pola DOIG may nevertheless enjoy the captivating drollery of the adelle penguin most interesting residents of Ant antarctica artica 4 |