336 Capt. C. C. Abbott on the 



XLIII. — The Penguins of the Falkland Islands. By Capt. C. C. 

 Abbott, of the Falkland Islands Detachment*. 



The Falkland Islands, situated in 51° south latitude, are yearly 

 visited by thousands of Penguins, who come there for the pur- 

 pose of breeding. The first of these visitors is the Jackass 

 Penguin [Aptenodytes demersa) , so called from its braying noise. 

 These birds occupy their burrows in the ground, in which they 

 deposit their eggs, towards the latter end of September, and 

 commence laying, almost to a day, on the 7th of October. 



In the neighbourhood of the settlement of Stanley the bur- 

 rows of these birds run in to a considerable distance, on ac- 

 count, I conclude, of their being so often robbed of their eggs, 

 which are taken out by means of a piece of iron -hoop fastened to 

 the end of a pole. Aptenodytes demersa bites more severely 

 than any of the other Penguins. At a distance from the settle- 

 ment, these Penguins breed in holes close to the surface of the 

 ground. They lay two eggs, of a white colour. Although I have 

 mentioned Aptenodytes demersa as coming up to breed in the 

 latter end of September, I must remark that some of them are 

 found on the shores of the Falkland Islands the whole year round, 

 which is not the case with any other Penguin. It has been 

 asserted that these birds crawl on all-fours to their breeding- 

 places. This is not the case ; they walk upright ; and it is only 

 when they are frightened and hard-pressed that they lose their 

 balance, fall forward, and then make use of their fins and legs to 

 get out of harm^s way. The whole of the coast of East Falk- 

 land, as far as my experience goes, from Mare Harbour on the 

 south side to Salvador on the north, is covered with these Pen- 

 guins during the breeding season. I have never seen them 

 making their breeding-holes, but I conclude that they dig them 

 out with their beak. 



Eudyptes papua is the next Penguin that '' hauls up " (to use 

 a nautical term) at the Falklands to breed. These birds have 

 regular rookeries which they occupy every year. They come up 

 about the same time as Aptenodytes demersa, and commence 

 laying almost always on the same day, viz. 7th October. Some 



* Communicated by John Gould, Esq., F.R.S., &c. 



