It is possible the birds are deserting this rookery, but it is also possible that this early date found only a small minority of the birds which will be collected at a later one.  The eggs, which have not yet been examined, should throw light on this point.  Wilson observed yet another proof of the strength of the nursing instinct in these birds.  In searching for eggs both he and Bowers picked up rounded pieces of ice which these ridiculous creatures had been cherishing with fond hope.

The light had failed entirely by the time the party were clear of the pressure ridges on their return, and it was only by good luck they regained their camp.

That night a blizzard commenced, increasing in fury from moment to moment.  They now found that the place chosen for the hut for shelter was worse than useless.  They had far better have built in the open, for the fierce wind, instead of striking them directly, was deflected on to them in furious whirling gusts.  Heavy blocks of snow and rock placed on the roof were whirled away and the canvas ballooned up, tearing and straining at its securings—­its disappearance could only be a question of time.  They had erected their tent with some valuables inside close to the hut; it had been well spread and more than amply secured with snow and boulders, but one terrific gust tore it up and whirled it away.  Inside the hut they waited for the roof to vanish, wondering what they could do if it went, and vainly endeavouring to make it secure.  After fourteen hours it went, as they were trying to pin down one corner.  The smother of snow was on them, and they could only dive for their sleeping-bags with a gasp.  Bowers put his head out once and said, ‘We’re all right,’ in as near his ordinary tones as he could compass.  The others replied ‘Yes, we’re all right,’ and all were silent for a night and half a day whilst the wind howled on; the snow entered every chink and crevasse of the sleeping-bags, and the occupants shivered and wondered how it would all end.

This gale was the same (July 23) in which we registered our maximum wind force, and it seems probable that it fell on C. Crozier even more violently than on us.

The wind fell at noon the following day; the forlorn travellers crept from their icy nests, made shift to spread their floor-cloth overhead, and lit their primus.  They tasted their first food for forty-eight hours and began to plan a means to build a shelter on the homeward route.  They decided that they must dig a large pit nightly and cover it as best they could with their floorcloth.  But now fortune befriended them; a search to the north revealed the tent lying amongst boulders a quarter of a mile away, and, strange to relate, practically uninjured, a fine testimonial for the material used in its construction.  On the following day they started homeward, and immediately another blizzard fell on them, holding them prisoners for two days.  By this time the miserable condition