142 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



A few Gentoos now winter along the beaches in the Falklands, 

 though an old resident told ine that this has been a recent change in 

 their hal)its. Abbott (Ibis, 1860, p. 336) states that the Jackass 

 Penguin at that time was the only penguin to be seen on these shores 

 in winter. At present none of this species are noted at this season. 



Gentoos ha^e been, and are of considerable economic importance on 

 these islands. The eggs ha\e always been a welcome relief from the 

 rather monotonous diet of mutton. They are sold at a reasonable 

 figure, and collectors are required to pay a certain tax per thousand 

 eggs. The skins were formerly sold to some extent until recent 

 legislation put a stop to this traffic as well as the penguin-oil industry. 

 The latter was a particularly cruel and abominable means of obtaining 

 a livelihood. When the birds were fattest (in the spring when they 

 "hauled up," and during the autumn moult) the crews of schooners 

 would visit colonies and set up try-pots for rendering the oil, and 

 corrals into which the birds were driven by thousands and clubbed, 

 the corral containing several layers of birds, the lowest often being 

 crushed and smothered. A penguin furnished about a pint of oil, a 

 gallon of which brought 2/6. A sea captain engaged for years in this 

 business told me that his vessel annually destroyed about 70,000 birds. 



Pygoscelis ANTARCTICA (Forstcr). 

 Antarctic Penguin. 



Only one example of this beautiful penguin was seen, an adult 

 female walking on the "camp" about fifty yards. above a small 

 creek. It was thin and I imagine was going inland to die, although 

 as soon as captured it showed an abundance of vigor. 



My obserA'ations made in a few moments were meagre indeed, but 

 suggested that its ways might not be greatly unlike its generic cousin 

 P. papua. Upon liberating the bird it did not run, but at first gave 

 a cry very similar to a Gentoo in great terror. Then it stood quietly 

 while I took photographs, though if I moved quickly it extended its 

 head straight in the air, and rotating it slowly from side to side uttered 

 that strange groaning sound that Gentoos on the nest gi\'e when ap- 

 proached by man, skua, or gull. 



My journal records the color of this bird's eyes as a rich brown and 

 Mr. Murphy records (Bull. Brooklyn inst. arts. & sci., 32, p. 130) 

 the colors in specimens taken by him at South Georgia as straw- 

 color. The tarsi were white, the nails black. 



