590 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



the rookery and settling on the neighbouring rocks, but as soon as one tried to alight 

 in the rookery, no doubt to steal eggs, it was attacked by the penguins and driven 

 away. There were also some Sheathbills in the rookery but these were left unmolested 

 although they too are egg stealers. 



This rookery was again visited on February 14th, 1926, when the following notes 

 were made: 



We found most of the young hatched and half grown : they were covered with down, 

 black on the back and white in front, and had black bills, pink feet and dark brown 

 iris (Plate LV, fig. 3). A few of the old ones were still sitting on eggs, probably addled 

 ones. We did not see any small young ones in their first down coat. About half of the 

 old ones were moulting. Their yellow head plumes were nearly all shed and the old 

 feathers were coming off in patches, leaving the new ones showing underneath. They 

 also shed the casing of the beak ; in most of them it had not yet peeled off, but was scaly, 

 and dull in colour. The scales on the feet too were being shed and the irides of the 

 moulting birds were light brown. When they enter the water they, like the Gentoos, 

 wash themselves and then swim away. 



The adults have the bill rich red brown and the bare skin at the gape pink. The iris 

 is red. The feet are pink, the webs varying from grey at the base to black at the margin. 

 The bases of the claws are white and have black edges and tips. The soles of the feet 

 are black. In the stomachs of the birds examined cephalopod beaks and euphausians 

 were found. 



Aptenodytes patagonica, Mill 



King Penguin 

 (Plate LV, fig. 4; Plate LVI, figs. 1-4) 



The King Penguin is common but not very numerous in South Georgia. It breeds 

 in rookeries, some of which number several hundred birds, but away from them only 

 odd examples are sometimes seen on the beaches. The largest rookeries seen were in 

 the Bay of Isles, Right Whale Bay, Gold Harbour, St Andrew's and Fortuna Bays. In 

 other bays there are small rookeries consisting of some dozen birds or so. Though the 

 rookeries are often near those of the Gentoo Penguins the Kings never mix with their 

 neighbours. The rookeries are usually on flat ground or moraines (Plate LV, fig. 4) 

 up to nearly a mile from the sea, and the one at Right Whale Bay is on the hill about 

 a hundred and fifty feet above sea level. 



The eggs are laid from the beginning of December onwards, but there is great 

 individual variation in the time of laying, as there also is in the time of the moult. 

 No nest is built, but the single egg is carried on top of the feet and is protected by a 

 transverse fold of skin which hangs down in front and covers it (Plate LVI, fig. i). 

 The period of incubation and appearance of the new hatched young were not observed. 

 The eggshell, like that of other penguins, is thick. 



Before the egg is laid the birds wander about in pairs and caress each other by crossing 

 the necks, after which the male presses the back of the female's neck until her head 



