Vol. XX. 



1921 



1 ^Fatiiews, Nature of Neiv Zealand Avifauna. 211 



separable. No sub-species are recognized in New Zealand, though 

 it is known to breed as far north as Auckland and south to Otago, 

 while recently NichoUs and Alexander * concluded that no sub- 

 species could be determined in Australia with a breeding range 

 from the South Solitaries, New South Wales, through Bass Strait 

 along the south coast \o Western Australia. It is extraordinary 

 and at present inexplicable that a second very distinct species 

 should hve at Banks Peninsula, about the middle of the east coast 

 of the South Island, called, from its beautiful pale coloration, 

 the Silver Penguin [Endyptitla alhosignata). Of the genus Eiidyptes 

 we admit four species, of which one occurs on the mainland as a 

 breeding species — Eudyptes pachyrhynchus — known as the Victoria 

 Penguin when breeding at The Snares, but also having the name 

 of the Big-billed Penguin, which is not so distinctive, as other 

 species of Eudyptes have as big or even bigger bills. Eudyptes 

 serresianits (tlie Tufted Penguin) also breeds at The Snares, and 

 is peculiarly distinct in breeding plumage, but not so easily 

 distinguishable in a worn state. These two appear to have been 

 recorded from Australia as wanderers, but a compUcation has 

 just recently been recognized in the description of one specimen, 

 which determines it, as far as it goes, as Eudyptes schlegeli, the 

 species which breeds on the Macquarie Group, and which is 

 characterized by the presence of yellow feathering on the fore- 

 head, which is present but sometimes obscured in some stages. 

 The fourth species is Eudyptes sclateri, the Auckland Island 

 breeding bird, which appears to be separable by the culmen 

 formation as regards the dead specimens, but which may show 

 vivid features in life, as it appears to be easily differentiated by field 

 observers. The Yellow Penguin [Megadyptes antipodes) breeds 

 both on the mainland and outlying islands, and is remarkable as 

 suggesting a higher place in the scheme of evolution of the 

 Penguins, as derived from the Eiidyptula series. This series seems 

 to be more closely allied to the Spheniscus group, which occurs 

 in South Africa, South America, and the Galapagos, and to the 

 Emperor Penguins, and which include the famous Adehe Penguin. 

 To the latter group two New Zealand species are allotted, both 

 of them confined as breeding birds to the Macquarie Group — 

 the Rock Hopper and the King Penguin. The former, also known 

 as the Royal Penguin {Pygoscelis papua), is even more famous as 

 the Gentoo of the Falkland Islands. Only sub-specific differences 

 are ascertainable between the representatives on the two far 

 distant groups, and this is confirmed by a similar distinction 

 between the King Penguin {Aptenodytes patagonica), also with a 

 similar distribution, but more southward at the Falkland Islands 

 locaht^^ only occurring as far north as a visitor even as in New 

 Zealand and as once recorded from Tasmania. • Before leaving 

 these famihes we might note that latitude does not govern the 

 range of these species, but apparently cold currents have more 

 significance. It is a remarkable fact that while Eudyptes, 



* The EiHii, vol. xviii., p. 50. 



