6 HUTTON, Penguins. [isfj^uly 



Ross saw some nearly i,2co miles from the nearest land. It 

 has been supposed that in their migrations they have been 

 much. helped by icebergs, and Penguins have been seen sitting 

 on icebergs. But icebergs generally drift to the north, and 

 could not supply the birds with food. On the contrary, the 

 melting ice would probably destroy or drive away any fish or 

 crustaceans in the neighbourhood. That Spheniscits should 

 have spread so far north as the Galapagos Islands seems at first 

 surprising, but is easily explained when we learn that the cold 

 antarctic current sweeping up the coasts of Chili and Peru 

 reduces the temperature of the ocean at the Galapagos to 62° 

 or 66° F., whereas its normal temperature at the equator is 81° 

 to 88° F. 



But, leaving these speculations, let us come back to the 

 habits of the Penguins. The usual number of eg<js in a nest 

 is two, but the Johnny {Pygosceiis papiid) lays its two eggs at 

 about two months' interval, the second being laid after the first 

 is hatched, so that it has really two broods of one each. They 

 make no nest, but carry their &gg between their legs. The 

 King {A. patagonica) has improved upon this. It also has only 

 one Ggg at a time, but it carries this egg in a fold of skin 

 between the legs, so that the egg is quite hidden. The egg 

 also differs in shape from those of other Penguins in being 

 pointed at one end, which must help its being retained in the 

 fold of skin. 



The species of Catarrhactcs make rough nests of grass, where 

 any is to be obtained. Each parent sits on the eggs alternately. 

 When the time for changing comes, the relief places itself close 

 alongside its mate and pushes it off the nest, covering the eggs 

 at once. This is done to prevent the Skua Gulls {Megaiestris), 

 which are always hovering round, from eating the eggs. Mega- 

 dyptes aiitipodus breeds under logs of wood or among tussock- 

 grass, only a few pairs living together, while Eiidyptiila and 

 SpJieniscus make their nests in holes. During the breeding 

 season the King Penguin, as well as the species of Pygoscelis 

 and Catarrhactes, collect together in large numbers, called 

 rookeries, which have often been described ; but the other 

 species do not do so. There are no large rookeries on the 

 Auckland or Campbell Islands, nor among the West Coast 

 sounds of New Zealand. Sphenisais breeds in holes, as a 

 defence, no doubt, against predaceous mammals, in South 

 Africa, South America, and Australia, but that cannot be the 

 object in New Zealand. It is only the genera which live on 

 islands, or on the antarctic continent, which form rookeries ; 

 and there is an intermediate stage, represented by Megadyptes, 

 and sometimes by Catarrhactes, which inhabits islands but does 

 not collect together in large quantities. From this we may 

 infer that the habit of forming rookeries is a late one, induced 

 probably as a defence against seals. 



