We shortened their names to Nebby and Nicky and they answered to them, but they answered with equal readiness to the common name of Bill. When sounds from the rookery reached them they would become greatly excited, and tried so desperately to get through the netting of their cage that we used to take them out for a walk. Then they would make no attempt to go to the rookery and were rather frightened. Nebuchadnezzar was a very friendly little fellow, and would follow me about outside and come running when called. But their feeding was unnatural, and for this reason, doubtless, both of them died after a few weeks. A single ringed penguin appeared at Cape Royds at the end of the breeding season, just as the Adelies were beginning to moult. It is about the same size as the Adelie but is more agile, and at a little distance, among a crowd of old Adelies, he looked not unlike a young Adelie with the white throat. But when I picked him up by the legs to investigate, he surprised me by curling round and biting me on the hand--a feat that the Adelie could not perform--and a closer examination showed me what he was. Never before had a ringed penguin been seen in this part of the Antarctic. CHAPTER XLVII NOTES The first seals which we met on this expedition were seen on our voyage from New Zealand before we entered the actual line of bergs. I did not see them myself, but from descriptions I gathered that one was a crabeater, and the other a Weddell seal. Later on, of course, seals were to be seen in numbers, and one of the reasons why I selected Cape Royds for our winter quarters was because I saw plenty of them lying on the bay ice, and consequently we should not be likely to suffer from a lack of fresh meat. On the return from the Magnetic Pole, Mackay found two young seals, which behaved in a most unusual manner, for instead of waiting without moving, as did most of the Weddell seals, they scuttled away actively and quickly. Later on he discovered that these two seals belonged to the comparatively rare variety known as Ross seal. On our voyage back to New Zealand I sent a party to the seal rookery near Pram Point to see if they could find a peculiar seal that we had noticed on the previous night. This seal was either a new species or the female of the Ross seal. It was a small animal, about four feet six inches long, with a broad white band from its throat right down to its tail on the underside. The search, however, proved a fruitless one. On our voyage out albatrosses were numerous, especially the sooty species, the death of which, on Shelvoke's voyage, inspired Coleridge's memorable poem. I noticed one, flying low between the two ships, strike its wings against the wire tow-line, which had suddenly emerged from the waves owing to the lift of the _Koonya's_ stern upon a sea.