8o Stuart-Sutherland, Penguins. [^j' 



Emu 

 Oct 



Calarrhactes vittata* Southern Penguin. — This Penguin 1 have 

 seen only as a museum exhibit. Sir W. L. Buller's description is 

 as follows : — " Eudvptes vittata. — Top of head brown, inclining to 

 bluish on the front, and passing into pale brown towards the back 

 of the head. Sides of the head and throat brown, with a broad 

 superciliary white streak ; upper part of neck and back brown, 

 inclining to bluish in places ; under surface pure white. Bill 

 reddish-brown. Feet red, with blackened webs. Length, 28 

 inches ; wing, 7.1 inches ; bill, 2.32 inches (culmen 2.1). Habitat, 

 southern extremity of New Zealand." 



Genus Megadyptes. 



Bill moderately long, not so stout as in Catarrhacies ; swelling 

 at base of upper mandible hardly noticeable. Tail short, of 20 

 feathers. 



Megadyptes antipodum. Yellow-eyed Penguin. — The crown of 

 the head light yellow very finely streaked with black, margined 

 with a quarter-inch band of clear yellow without streaks. The 

 throat and face on the sides lightly tinged with yellowish-grey, 

 becoming more yellow below the gape. The upper surface dark 

 slaty-grey ; under surface white. Bill reddish-horn. Feet large 

 proportionally, fleshy-pink in colour. Eye lemon yellow. 

 Length variable — 29 to 31.5 inches ; wing, 8.7 to 9.1 inches-; 

 bill, 2.9 to 3.2 inches ; tail, 1.3 inches. Egg white, 3.1 to 3.5 

 inches. 



This Penguin is more often wrongly named than any other. 

 " Royal," " King," " Crowned," and " Crested " are some names 

 so appUed. The eye of this bird is pecuhar, the power of sight 

 "being apparently confined to the lower portion, if notice is taken 

 of the remarkable manner of holding the head. Especially is this 

 noticeable if the object looked at is on a level or higher than the 

 bird's head. The nesting season commences in September at 

 Stewart Island, where the nest is formed of sticks and lined with 

 leaves, generally on the outskirts of the bush at the foot of a tree 

 or under a fallen trunk. The nest is better made than in any other 

 variety, and one — ^but sometimes two — chalky-white eggs are 

 laid. The period of incubation is said to be 32 days. Never 

 breeding on the mainland, the principal lookeries — if a score or so 

 birds nesting together can be called a lookery — are located at 

 Stewart Island, the Snares, Auckland, Campbell, and Macquarie 

 Islands. As a straggler, I have on several occasions obser\'cd this 

 species around Taiaroa Heads, and the above description and 

 measurements are taken from a specimen secured there. The 

 eg^ is described from specimens taken at the Snares and Stewart 

 Island. 



* Through the kindness of Prof. Hutton, I have received a minute descrip- 

 tion and photographs of the typical specimen of E. vittatus in the Canterbury 

 Museum, Christchurch. There can scarcely be any doubt that the species is 

 founded on a worn and faded example of C. pachyyJiynchits." — W. R. Ogilvie- 

 Grant, " Cat. of Birds Brit. Mus.," vol. xxvi., p. 638. 



