PENGUIN LOVERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18297, 13 January 1923, Page 11

PENGUIN LOVERS.

BIRDS' STRANGE CUSTOMS. The curious ceremonies whicji attend J the' love-making of penquins were de- ~; scribed, by Surgeon Commander Murray Levick in a lecture in London an " Tha Social Habits of the Antarctic Penguins." In the spring, the lecturer said, the hen bird scooped out a rough hollow in the frozen ground, sat in it, and waited. The male birds went from nest; to. nest in parties, and when one of them saw a hen who took his fancy he •. picked up a pebble 'and placed it at her feet. If a pebble could not be procured, as was often the case on the frozen grOund, the male went through the process in dumb•"•'" show. ' v - : '- ' "-' The ceremony of placing the stones a signal lor all the other males to attack the one daring bird. A terrific battle followed in which there was much spilling . of blood, and ultimately the one bird is regarded as entitled to mate with the hen, and he is left in possession. . On one occasion, said Commander Levick, a member of the party was sitting down watching the birds when a ma' 6 came up, examined him closely : for some. , time, ' and then solemnly picked "P.* pebble and placed it at his feet. v The human, not being well up in the etiquette of penguin society, did not know what to do, and the bird, finding its advances ignored, inspected the strange, . silent animal, once again nibbled at his - trousers, and then went off.