14 W. P. PYCRAFT. 



still attached to the new ones. This niuult was exceedingly rapid, taking from first to 

 last about ten days ! 



The observations of Mr. De Win ton (5) were made on a King Penguin also in the 

 gardens of the Zoological Society, and included two successive moults. The change 

 here differed from that described by Bartlett in Spheniscus, inasmuch as he tells us that 

 the feathers " became as withered leaves," lost all their lustre, and were assiduously 

 removed by the bird, this operation being performed, not by pulling, but by pushing 

 them with the beak from their attachment. They were not " peeled " off in masses as 

 in Spheniscus. 



During the second moult he discovered that each of the moulting feathers was 

 attached by its base to the tip of that succeeding it. The new feathers he describes as 

 " growing into the bases of the old ones, the thin sheaths attached to the bases of the 

 feathers being occupied by the points of the new feathers." The effect of this peculiar 

 attachment is to give the bird an extraordinarily bloated appearance, the old feathers 

 standing out almost at right angles to the body.* Though the description and figures 

 given by Mr. De Winton tally in the main with my observations made on the Emperor 

 Penguins brought home by Dr. Wilson from the ' Discovery ' Expedition, I find that 

 in a few details they require amendment. 



The skins of the moulting birds brought home l)y Dr. Wilson exactly agree with 

 the description given by Mr. De Winton, thus showing that the peculiar method of 

 moulting which he described was not due to the effects of confinement. In the skins 

 in question the feathers are all erect and come away with the slightest touch. In some, 

 however, as well as in a number of moulting feathers given me some time since by 

 Mr. De Winton, the peculiar attachment of the old feather to the tip of the new, 

 described by Mr. Dc Winton, is perfectly preserved. And an examination of these 

 shows that the sheath which normally invests all growing feathers, instead of ending 

 in a quill-like point, has become attached to the rim of the lower umbilicus of the old 

 feather, which thus remains attached to the tip of the new until this has pushed its way 

 some distance out of the skin and completed the growth of the enclosed rami. The 

 sheath, by this time having lost its hold on the imprisoned rami, now easily comes ofi" 

 with the old feather. 



V. — The Syrinx of the Adult Emperor Penguin. 



The syrinx of the Emperor Penguin, Aptenodytes forsteri, does not appear to have 

 been previously described. As in the rest of the penguins it is tracheo-bronchial, Ijut 

 shows a tendency towards the bronchial type. The first bronchial semi-ring has the 

 form of a gently arcuate rod, while the second and third are nearly straight. As will 

 be seen in Fig. 5, the tracheal rings grow smaller immediately above the syrinx, and 

 are also bent upon themselves ; the tracheal rings from the antepenultimate onwards, 



* Cf. Dr. Wilson's Report on Birds, p. 20. 



