740 Proceedings. 



by Sir James Hector at last meeting — a bird so abundant on those islands 

 that the boiling of them down for their fat has become a well-established 

 and lucrative business; secondly, the yellow -crowned royal penguin 

 (Eudyptes chrysoloijhus), being the same as Eiuiyptes schlegeJi of Dr. 

 Finsch ; the extremely rare black penguin (Eudyptes atratus), of which 

 only two examples have been recorded ; and, lastly, a smaller penguiu 

 belonging to another group, having a slender bill, and known a,s Pygoscelis 

 tccniatus. But the fact that he wished to emphasize was this: that each 

 of the islands, or groups of islands, is a nursery for particular species of 

 oceanic birds which appear never to interfere with each other's sanctuary. 

 N'otliing is more wonderful in the romance of natural history than the 

 unerring instinct with whicli these birds, year afber year, after measure- 

 less wanderings on tiie face of the ocean, find their way back, at the 

 appointed time, to their common breeding- place. Albatroses and pen- 

 guins spend about ten months of the year at sea. The albatros sweeps 

 the vast waste of waters with its broad, never-tiring pinions, and rests 

 and sleeps on the bosom of the deep. It never leaves the sea till the 

 breeding-season comniences, when tin; reproductive instinct impels it to 

 seek its rocky cradle; and then, without chart or compass, and apparently 

 without difficulty, it sails direct to its old breeding-place — a mere rock, so 

 to speak, in the wilderness of waters. In the case of the penguins this 

 natural instinct is even more wonderful. The penguin spends nearly the 

 whole of its life in the water, which is its natural element ; for, not being 

 furnished with anything but rudimentary wings, or flippers, it is unable to 

 fly. For purposes of reproduction it finds its v^'a}' back to its island 

 nursery when nature prompts it to undertake that duty. It may be said 

 of the albatros that it can mount in the air and take its bearings when 

 looking for its island asylum. But not so with the penguin. Owing to 

 its conditions of existence it is unable to leave the water, and, swimming 

 on the surface, can, at the best, see only a few yards ahead. And yet, 

 with unerring precision, each species of penguin goes straight back to its 

 particular island sanctuary, and to its own community. As an illustration 

 of the truly oceanic character of a penguin's life, be reminded the Society 

 that at a former meeting, some two or three years ago, he had exhibited 

 the foot of a penguin, taken from a fresh bird, in which a bunch of bar- 

 nacles had become attached to the toes through long immersion in sea- 

 water — this, too, in spite of the every-day wear-and-tear of active life. 

 Then, again, several of the groups of islands can claim a distinctive species 

 of cormorant ; as, for example, Phalacrocorax colensoi, on the Auckland 

 Islands, and Phalacrocorax nycthcmerus, on Campbell Island ; and of the 

 smaller species of oceanic petrels each has its own favourite breeding- 

 ground, and never interferes with that of the others. There are other 

 birds that present an interesting study in these islands. For example, 

 there i.s a snipe, the closely-allied species of which are very sedentary in 

 their habits. Thus, the pretty little snipe described by himself some 

 twenty years ago as Gallinago pxisilla (owing to the smallness of its size) 

 inhabits the Chatham Islands, where Mr. Rothschild has discovered a 

 second species. At the Snares we have Gallinago htiegeli, so named in 

 honour of Baron von Hiigel, the discoverer. At the Auckland Islands we 

 have the well-known Gallinago ancklandica, one of the finest of the 

 group; and at Antipodes Island, Gallinago tristrami of Rothschild. 

 Then, again, at the Auckland Islands there is the curious flightless duck 

 (Neaondta ancklandica), which is found nowhere else. It has been 

 suggested, with some show of truth, by Count Salvadori that this is a 

 direct descendant from Anas chlorotis of Now Zealand, the wings having 

 become atrophied and aborted through the change of environment, the 

 duck requiring no longer to fly, but rather to scale the rocks which 

 enclose its habitat Iiy climbing, a faculty in which it excels. He also 

 mentioned that Sir James Hector had sent to Professor Newton specimens . 



