THE OSPREY. 



143 



Ax Attempt to Rf.-intkoduce the Great 

 Bustard into England is to be made accord- 

 ing- to a writer in The Field (March 17). The 

 place selected is that part of Eng^land's "eastern 

 counties in which the last survivors of the in- 

 dig"enous race remained prior to complete extinc- 

 tion." The writer appreciates the difficulties 

 in the way of carrying- out such a project. 



Feathers of the Moa have been received 

 by the United States National Museum from 

 Prof. F. W. Hutton of Christ Church, New 

 Zealand. Fifteen were obtained, part of a con- 

 siderable number discovered by Professor Hutton 

 in a cave of the North Island at Earnescleug-h. 

 The birds, it will be remembered, have V)een 

 long- extinct. 



A New Bird of Paradise has just been 

 found accidentally among- the mounted repre- 

 sentatives of that family in the United States 

 National Museum. It belong-s to the g-enus 

 a (ill II urns and is related to the C. renins, but 

 very distinct. Of course it comes from New 

 Cruinea, but its exact habitat is unknown. De- 

 tails will be g-iven in the next number of the 

 Osprev. 



The Volbrpxht Prize for Scientific Re- 

 search (of the value of 12,000 marks or about 

 3.000 dollars) has been awarded by the Univer- 

 sity' of Gotting-en to Professor Geg'enbauer. 

 This illustrious zoolog-ist, it will be remembered, 

 has done much g-ood work on the comparative 

 anatomv of birds as well as of other animals. 



The Penguin in Captivity. A leading- ar- 

 ticle in 71ie Saturday Revierv of London deals 

 with "New Beasts at the Gardens'" of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society. These "new beasts" include "a 

 pair of Grevy's Zebras," and "a pair of marvel- 

 ous Babiroussa from the Celebes" besides two 

 representatives of the remarkable and waning 

 order of the lung- fishes (Dipnoi) and "King- 

 Penguin from the Antarctic seas". The remarks 

 on the latter are couched in such an interesting- 

 style that we feel sure the readers of the Osprev 

 will thank us for reproducing them. After spe- 

 cifying- the "new beasts" the writer discusses 

 thus pleasantly. "Of them all, perhaps (for on 

 such a point certainty is not to be expected) the 

 King- Peng'-uin is the most remarkable, both to 

 the work-a-day eye of the ordinary visitor and 

 the reflective one of the evolutionary naturalist. 

 The former, till he discovers that it is a peng-uin, 

 which quiets him and explain.-^ everything-, is in 

 a state of exclamatory- wonder whilst, to the 

 latter, Apteiiodvtes loiigirosfris, as he fondly 

 pronounces it to be (not forgetting to tell 3'ou 

 that some authorities prefer calling- this species 

 Aptcnodyfes pennant i) presents the most strong-ly 

 marked instance of special adaptation to changed 

 habits, with consequent divergence from the 

 typical avian form with which science is ac- 

 quainted — if indeed, apterj'x, casuarius, dinor- 

 nis and one or two others do not offer equally- 

 forcible examples, as to which he will reserve 

 his opinion. Two things strike one about 

 equally in this delicious creature, its delicious- 

 ness, which is made up of its exlraordinariness, 

 and its beauty. "Wonder, no doubt, precedes 



admiration. The eye takes in the outline first 

 and one really feels that one is Alice (or some- 

 body else) in Wonderland, as a little, weird, 

 grotesque white-waistcoated bolt-upright crea- 

 ture, onh' three feet high but full of deport- 

 ment, comes up to one with something- between 

 a strut and a toddle and with a general sug-ges- 

 tion of a "How do, how do? Excuse flippers. I 

 haven't what you folks call a hand." That it 

 should not have one seems remarkable, for an 

 upright carriage and a broad frontage of waist- 

 coat suggests hands and no flippers. Flippers, 

 however, they are- at least — or do they only 

 look like them? And just as a long-, unmistaka- 

 ble break — assuring you that it cannot be the 

 mock turtle — sets you wondering- whether they 

 are really wings, the keeper assures you of the 

 fact and ^'our e3'es catches the plate, with name, 

 on the railing — Aptenodytes, &c. — and you come 

 out of "Wonderland" and remember that yo\x 

 are at the Gardens and have heard, or even 

 read about penguins ever since you were 

 little. And then comes admiration with a rush 

 for, having- assimilated his quaintness, 3'ou see 

 that Aptenodytes is a handsome bird — no, per- 

 sonage -with a g-lorified head and the very sun- 

 rise on his breast, his waistcoat. The sunrise, 

 yes, for just at the top of it, rising from the 

 waistcoat as if from the sea but having three- 

 quarters of its upper disc hidden by the dark 

 feather-clouds of the throat, is the sun, a golden 

 feathery sun ajid the gold of it is diffused down- 

 wards-glossed over the glossy, silver-creamy 

 white- in gradually diminishing splendour till 

 about half-way down, just where the middle 

 button would be — it gleams and glimmers itself 

 out. One almost seems to see raj's. Anything 

 fresher, purer, more pellucidly lovely it would 

 be impossible to imagine. The breast of the 

 King Penguin is bright, sunny morning. The 

 head, however, including the face is jetty black 

 but a little way back on each side of it the black- 

 ness is cut into as though with a knife — so sharp 

 is the line of demarcation — by two patches of the 

 same splended — or even still more splendid — 

 colour as that on the breast. These patches are 

 comet-shaped, if a comet may have a verj' fat, 

 almost circular head and a very thin, curved 

 tail, which tails run down each side of the neck 

 getting- thinner and thinner till, in an almost 

 imperceptible streak they join the opposite 

 horns of the sun's crescent and enter into his 

 glory. One would think this shoidd be enough 

 for any bird, but Aptenodytes has feathers on 

 the throat just under the chin which, though 

 they look black at first like the head, glint sud- 

 denly into a dark metallic green whenever the 

 light catches them, whilst on each side of the 

 long, thin, slightly curved beak, commencing 

 at its base and running- along the lower mandi- 

 ble to within a couple of inches of the tip, it 

 displays two broad strips of naked red-orange 

 skin, intensely brilliant and conspicuous. 

 These are its special points. The rest are but 

 adjuncts, as for instance the whole of the back 

 which is of a blueish, slaty grey, looking much 

 more like fur than feathers, and suggesting a 

 newly bought and very expensive mantle of the 

 most fashionable design. The sleeves which fit 

 the queer little flipper-wings quite tightly are, 



