90 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Penguin." I have no doubt whatever that I am right in my 

 identification of the true E. chrysolophus, because, in company 

 with Mr. E. Bowdler Sharpe, who had been working out the 

 Penguins, I examined a good series of specimens in the British 

 Museum so labelled ; and, as I have now explained, this is the 

 young state of E. schlegeli, which, for the reason I have before 

 given, sinks into a synonym. 



Aptenodytes longirostris, Scop, (The King Penguin.) 



The young of the second year differs from the adult in 

 having the corniform occipito-lateral markings detached from 

 the yellow of the foreneck, and these as well as the latter, 

 instead of being bright yellow, have only a wash of pale lemon- 

 yellow on a white ground. The green velvety sheen, so con- 

 spicuous in the adult, is absent from the head and throat, 

 these parts being dull black. The plumage of the upper parts 

 is darker and lacks much of the slaty-blue hue which charac- 

 terizes the adult. 



In a previous paper I have described the nestling and the 

 young of the first year, these transitional states being very 

 curious and interesting. 



Apteryx oweni, Gould. (The Little Grey Kiwi.) 



Mr. Percy Seymour, who has been residing some years at 

 Preservation Inlet, collecting the birds in that locality for 

 European museums, writes me, under date the 17th July, 

 " I have ascertained that since this time last year Ajotcryx 

 oiveni has bred, at intervals of about seven weeks or so, no 

 less than yFrc times, if not six." If this be the case there ought 

 to be no difficulty in perpetuating the species, if the surround- 

 ing conditions are favourable. Whatever its fecundity may 

 be, however, a wingless species stands no chance whatever 

 in the face of stoats, ferrets, and weasels, of which some 

 thousands have lately been introduced by the Government 

 and turned loose in all parts of the country, in the hope of 

 suppressing the rabbits.'''- The only chance now of saving the 

 various species of apterous birds is in their complete isolation. 

 If Lord Onslow's proposal to set apart the Little Barrier Island 

 in the North and Eesolution Island in the South as inviolable 



* It is too late now to discuss the wisdom or folly of this introduction. 

 But there is reason to fear that the colonists will soon become familiar 

 with reports of the kind recently telegraphed from Palmerston North, as 

 follows : " A child named Just was attacked on Sunday morning, whi 

 playing on the racecourse, by four stoats, two of which fastened on to the 

 child's neck, maintaining their hold until driven away by the child's 

 parents, whose attention was attracted by the screaming of the child. 

 A number of lambs were also found dead on the course, appearances indi- 

 cating that their death has been caused by stoats." 



