2 3 8 Stray Feathers. [J : ™ ril 



they had seemed bewildered and incapable of movement. A 

 younger bird from Bruni Island did not attempt to swim. This 

 was one of a pair of nestlings covered with down even to the 

 flippers, and still without tail-feathers. The irises of the pair 

 first mentioned were pale green, whilst those of the younger 

 birds were grey, so that apparently the colour changes with age. 

 The down on the upper surface was grey and fluffy, on the under 

 surface dull white, and somewhat close in texture. The length 

 of the young birds which were still clad in down was 14.25 

 inches. The little creatures extended their flippers and agitated 

 them precisely in the same manner as that in which young 

 flying birds open and flap their wings, for the muscles which in 

 the latter case must be trained for flight must in the former 

 case be trained for swimming. They also snapped at one's 

 fingers and at one another, and at times uttered a sound which 

 resembled the hiss of an angry kitten. When a Little Penguin 

 is catching small fish it darts hither and thither through the 

 shoal, and causes the small fry to scatter in all directions, and 

 sometimes to leap completely out of the water in their eagerness 

 to escape. On one such occasion a Silver Gull (Larus novcB- 

 hollandi.az) was, like myself, an observer of these proceedings, 

 and whenever the Penguin reappeared, the Gull flew quickly 

 to the spot, as if in anticipation of a meal. If this were so, it 

 must have been disappointed, for it obtained nothing. Once 

 only did I observe the Penguin return to the surface with a small 

 fish in its bill, which was thereupon quickly swallowed. Im- 

 mersion lasted about half a minute, after which the bird floated 

 on the surface for a few seconds. Numerous thorn-like pro- 

 tuberances on the tongue and palate are inclined slightly towards 

 the gullet, and may assist the Penguin to hold its prey and to 

 swallow it. In two fresh skins of adult males which I examined, 

 the basal halves of the feathers of the throat and fore-neck were 

 in one specimen strongly washed in the other lightly washed 

 with black. In the same skins, when preserved, the washes of 

 black had disappeared. Perhaps the disappearance of the grey 

 colour might be attributable to starch, which was employed 

 in the process of cleaning. — J AMES R. M'CLYMONT. 12/ 1/04. 



Birds of the Lamu Archipelago (East Africa). — Since 

 writing to you I have spent some time amidst the ancient ruins 

 on the many islands of the Lamu Archipelago, and made several 

 most interesting trips up the Tana River, on the mainland, 

 through country very little if ever trod by white man. I say 

 ancient Lamu, for it is first known to history as a vast kingdom 

 in the year 914 A.D., and was known to the Phoenicians B.C., 

 but with all its antiquity, its buried cities, its vast Persian ruins, 

 the ornithology of this Archipelago is as little known as that 

 of Central Africa. I have lived amongst it, waded up to my waist 

 in its swamps to collect and study its aquatic birds — result (of 



