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 Shackleton must always be considered one of the most important among those fitted out for the work of polar research. Shackleton had been a member of the Scott expedition and therefore was well acquainted with the character of the work. The members of the staff, about twenty-five in number, were selected with great care, and the results of the expedition demonstrated Lieutenant Shackleton's wisdom. The _Nimrod_, a wooden steamship built for seal hunting, was purchased and equipped for the expedition. She was a small vessel, scarcely more than one hundred feet in length. Her foremast carried square sails; her main and mizzen masts were schooner-rigged. Under steam her speed did not exceed six knots. The equipment included a generous outfit of scientific instruments, a supply of dogs and sledges, ten Manchurian or "Shetland" ponies, and a gasoline motor-car. The vessel was equipped at Cowes, England, but made her final start from Lyttleton, New Zealand, New Year's Day, 1908. In order to save her supply of coal for future use she was towed to the antarctic circle. The following winter months, May to September, were spent on Ross Island, near the winter quarters of the _Discovery_, in McMurdo Bay, about thirty degrees south of New Zealand. This bay, or sound, forms a curve in the shore line of Victoria Land, the coast of which is the best known part of the antarctic regions. Up to the present time it is the most accessible entrance to south circumpolar regions known; it is also the most convenient location for winter quarters, being only two thousand miles from New Zealand.