Vol. XVIII 



IQlS 



] Alexander and Nicholls, The Little Penguin. 



53 



plumage, it will be seen that these have been obtained in 

 September, December, January, March, and April. Birds in 

 group 6, with worn plumage, have been obtained in March, April, 

 June, July, August, and September ; whilst birds in group 7, with 

 much-worn plumage, have been obtained in August, September, 

 October, November, January, March, x\pril, and June — that is, 

 at every season of the year. 



Coloration. 



In the "Birds of Australia" Mathews wrote: — "Nothing but 

 the study of series from breeding-places will serve to explain their 

 variation. General coloration will, I believe, be of the greatest 

 value if correctly used. If only freshly-moulted birds are used 

 for comparison, differences will be noted in coloration, which, I 

 think, a large series will emphasize." 



We have carefully studied the freshly-moulted birds in the 

 series before us, which, as stated by Mathews, show very consider- 

 able variation in the colour of the feathers. Each feather has a 

 black stripe down the middle and a blue patch on each side, and in 

 freshly-moulted birds the colour of the feathers on the back and 

 the flippers corresponds precisely, though owing to the smaller 

 size of the feathers on the flippers the general colour effect may 

 be rather different, owing to the patches of black and blue being 

 more closely intermingled on the flipper. In worn specimens 

 the blue colour on the back is often still evident after all blue 

 has disappeared from the flippers, as noted above. The feathers 

 on the sides are always lighter than those in the centre of the back. 



The blue may be pale electric- blue or dull grey-blue or any 

 intermediate shade. The series of moulting or freshly-moulted 

 specimens, numbering 19, examined by us form an almost con- 

 tinuous series, which can be arranged as in the succeeding table, 

 where each bird is lighter than the one immediately below it. 



Freshly-moulted and Moulting Penguins 

 Order of Colour. 



Arranged in 



Shade of Blue. 



Lightest (greenish) 

 Light" 



Medium 



Dark 

 Darkest (blackish) 



Localily. 



Cabbage-tree L, Port Stephens, N.S.W 



QueenscUff, Port PhilUp, Vic. 



Penguin L, Rockingham, W.A. 



Coorong, S.A. 



QueenscUff, Vic. 



Cabbage-tree I., N.S.W. 



Cat I., Bass Strait . . 



Tollgate I., N.S.W. 



PhilUp I., Western Port, Vic. 



PhilUp I., Vic. 



Phillip I., Vic. 



PhUlip I., Vic. 



Cat I., Bass Strait . . 



Phillip I., Vic. 



Cabbage-tree L, N.S.W. 



Age and Sex. 



Young. 

 Adult. 

 Adult. 



s 



Adult. 



Young. 



Young. 

 Two young. 

 Three young. 



Young (J. 

 Two adult cj. 



Adult. 



Young. 



Adult ?. 



Young. 



