large numbers.

Wilson has pointed out in his article upon seals in the Discovery
Report[62] that the Weddell and the crab-eater seal, which are the two
commoner of the Antarctic seals, have agreed to differ both in habit and
in diet, and therefore they share the field successfully. He shows that
"the two penguins which share the same area have differentiated in a
somewhat similar manner." The Weddell seal and the Emperor penguin "have
the following points in common, namely, a littoral distribution, a fish
diet and residential non-migratory habit, remaining as far south the
whole year round as open water will allow; whereas the other two (the
crab-eating seal and the Adélie penguin) have in common a more pelagic
habit, a crustacean diet, and a distribution definitely migratory in the
case of the penguin, and although not so definitely migratory in the case
of the seal, yet checked from coming so far south as Weddell's seal in
winter by a strong tendency to keep in touch with pelagic ice."[63]
Wilson considers that the advantage lies in each case with the
"non-migratory and more southern species," i.e. the Weddell seal and
the Emperor penguin. I doubt whether he would confirm this now. The
Emperor penguin, weighing six stones and more, seems to me to have a very
much harder fight for life than the little Adélie.

Before the Discovery started from England in 1901 an 'Antarctic Manual'
was produced by the Royal Geographical Society, giving a summary of the
information which existed up to that date about this part of the world.
It is interesting reading, and to the Antarctic student it proves how
little was known in some branches of science at that date, and what
strides were made during the next few years. To read what was known of
the birds and beasts of the Antarctic and then to read Wilson's
Zoological Report of the Discovery Expedition is an education in what one