286 THE ANIMALS OF NEW ZEALAND 



in March. The royal penguin, in Macquarie Island, commences 

 to lay early in November. The rock hopper is an early bird, and 

 at KergTielen Island the young of the first brood hatch out 

 towards the end of October, and the second in December. The 

 yellow-eyed penguin breeds in New Zealand at the end of 

 October; but in Campbell Island, according to Dr. Filhol, its 

 eggs are laid early in November, the young being hatched out by 

 the end of the month. The king penguin, at Macquarie Island, 

 commences to lay its eggs about the middle of November. 



The penguins differ greatly in their dispositions. Mefjadijptes 

 and Catarrliactes are sulky in captivity, while the king and the 

 little blue pen^iin are much more friendly, the former especially 

 being easily tamed. 



Penguins belong entirely to the Southern Hemisphere. To the 

 south they extend as far as the Antarctic continent ; while 

 on the west coast of South America they are found as far north 

 as the coast of Peru, and one species inhabits the Galapagos 

 Islands, which are situated on the Equator. On the east coast of 

 South America they extend only to Rio Grande do Sul. In 

 Australia and South Africa they inhabit the southern coasts only. 

 They are a small group of birds forming a single family. But 

 this family may be divided into three sub-families, which have 

 slightly different geographical distributions. The first sub-family 

 contains the genera Aptenodytes and Pygoscelis, which inhabit 

 the Antarctic Regions from the ice up to about 53° S. The second 

 sub-family consists of the genera Catarrliactes and Megadyptes. 

 These are found between 55° S. and 38° S. The third sub-family 

 contains Spheniscus and Eudyptula, which do not live further 

 south than 45° or 50°, and extend to the most northern limits 

 reached by the penguins. 



They have descended from flying birds. This is proved by 

 the structure of the wing. The bones are on the same pattern as 

 that found in other birds. In addition to this, several of the 

 muscles of flying Ijirds are represented in the penguins by non- 

 contractile tendinous bands, which are functionally useless, but 

 have not yet altogether disappeared. It is certain that they are 

 not closely related to the auks of the Northern Hemisphere,. 



