A book of king penguins

Few, if any, animals could be more popular than the King Penguins. Their upright posture, their solemn bearing and slow, dignified walk, their seeming parody of human manners and movement, their rich colouring, and their engaging personality, all contribute to their quaintness and charm. Their conduct of their domestic affairs is always intriguing, and especially so in the months when courtship, taking in marriage, the stealing of someone else’s egg, and the rearing of “babies”, are the matters to which they are devoting their attention. The mentality of the Penguin is far from one of conventional simplicity; he is a bird of individual whims and moods and of very definite purposes, and he is strongly self-willed in endeavouring to get what he wants, whether other Penguins and people concur in his desire or not. I have enjoyed the privilege of intimate acquaintance with the King Penguins living in the Zoological Park at Edinburgh, for eighteen years, and I hope, in the following pages, to pass on to others something of the pleasure and amusement these rare and delightful birds have given me, as well as of the knowledge I have gained from them.