257 



PENGUINS. 



PENGUINS. 



263 



of all. Three species are stated to be found in the Falkland Islands. 

 Two of these, the King and the Macaroni (Aptenodytea chrysocome) 

 deposit their eggs in these rookeries. The Jackass (Aptenodytes 

 demena), which is the third, obtaining its English name from the 

 horrible brayings which it sets up at night, makes its neat in burrows 

 on downs or eandy plains, and does not seem to take invasion so quietly 

 as the other species. 



But the dimensions of the rookeries above noticed sink into insigni- 

 ficance when compared with a settlement of the King Penguins 

 (Aptenodytet Paiachonica) recorded by Mr. G. Bennett, who saw at the 

 north end of Macquarrie Island, in the South Pacific Ocean, a colony of 

 those birds which covered an extent of thirty or forty acres. He 

 describes the number of Penguins collected together in this spot as 

 immense ; but observes that it would be almost impossible to guess at 

 it with any near approach to truth, as, during the whole of the day 

 and night, 30,000 or 40,000 are continually landing, and an equal 

 number going to sea. " They are arranged, when on shore, in as 

 compact a manner and in as regular ranks as a regiment of soldiers; 

 and are classed with the greatest order, the young birds being in one 

 situation, the moulting birds iu another, the sitting hens in a third, 

 the clean birds in a fourth, ic. ; and so strictly do birds in similar 

 condition congregate, that should a bird that is moulting intrude 

 itself among those which are clean, it is immediately ejected from 

 them. The females hatch the eggs by keeping them close between 

 their thighs ; and if approached during the time of incubation, move 

 away, carrying their eggs with them. At this time the male bird goes 

 to sea and collects food for the female, which becomes very fat After 

 the young is hatched, both parents go to sea, and bring home food for 

 it ; it soon becomes so fat as scarcely to be able to walk, the old birds 

 getting very thin. They sit quite upright in their roosting-places, 

 and walk in the erect position until they arrive at the beach, when 

 they throw themselves on their breast*, in order to encounter the very 

 heavy sea met with at their landing-place." 



Mr. Bennett mentioned several instances of the appearance of Pen- 

 guins at a considerable distance from any known land. They generally 

 however indicate its neighbourhood. (' ZooL Proc.,' 1840.) 



Captain Fitz-Roy gives the following interesting account of the mode 

 in which Penguins feed their young. The species on which he made 

 his observations at Noir Island was probably the Jackass Penguiu : 



" Multitudes of Penguins were swarming together in some parts of 

 the island, among the bushes and ' tussac' (thick rushy grass) near the 

 shore, having gone there for the purpose of moulting and rearing their 

 young. They were very valiant in self-defence, and ran open-mouthed, 

 by dozens, at any one who invaded their territory, little knowing how 

 soon a stick would scatter them on the ground. The young were 

 good eating, but the others proved to be black and tough when cooked. 

 The manner in which they feed their young is curious and rather 

 amusing. The old bird gets on a little eminence and makes a great 

 noise (between quacking and braying), holding its head up in the ah-, 

 as if it were haranguing the penguinnery, while the young one stands 

 close to it, but a little lower. The old bird, having continued its 

 clatter for about a minute, puts its head down and opens its mouth 

 widely, into which the young one thrusts its head, and then appears 

 to suck from the throat of its mother for a minute or two, after 

 which the clatter is repeated, and the young one is again fed ; this 

 continues for about ten minutes. I observed some which were moult- 

 ing make the same noise, and then apparently swallow what they thus 

 supplied themselves with ; so in this way, I suppose, they are furnished 

 with subsistence during the time they cannot seek it in the water." 

 (' Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle,' King.) 



Mr. Darwin pleasantly relates his encounter with one of these birds 

 on the Falkland Islands. " One day," says our voyager, " having 

 placed myself between a Penguin (Aptenodytei demeria) and the water, 

 I was much amused by watching its habits. It was a brave bird ; and, 

 till reaching the sea, it regularly fought and drove me backwards. 

 Nothing leas than heavy blows would have stopped him ; every inch 

 gained he firmly kept, standing close before me, erect and determined. 

 When thus opposed, he continually rolled his head from side to side, 

 in a very odd manner, as if the power of vision only lay in the an- 

 terior and basal part of each eye. This bird is commonly called the 

 Jackass Penguin, from its habit, while on shore, of throwing its head 

 backwards, and making a loud strange noise, very like the braying of 

 that animal; but while at sea and undisturbed, its note is very deep 

 and solemn, and is often heard in the night-time. In diving its little 

 pluiueless wings are used as fins ; but on the land as front lega. When 

 crawling (it may be said on four legs) through the tussocks, or on the 

 'f a grassy cliff, it moved so very quickly that it might readily 

 have been mistaken for a quadruped. When at sea, and fishing, it 

 comes to the surface, for the purpose of breathing, with such a spring, 

 and dives again so instantaneously, that I defy any one at first sight 

 to be sure that it is not a fish leaping for sport." (' Voyages of 

 the Adventure and Beagle;' Darwin, 'Researches iu Qeology and 

 Natural History.') 



Bougainville endeavoured to bring home a penguin alive. It became 

 so far tame that it followed the person who fed it ; it ate bread, flesh, 

 or fish ; but its fare appears to have been insufficient or inappropriate, 

 for it fell away and died. 



An elaborate dissection of an adult male Patagoman Penguin (A}tte- 

 XAI. HIST. KIV. VOL. IV. 



nodytes Patachonica, Forster), the total length of which, measured 

 over the back, was 3 feet 2 inches 6 lines, is given by Mr. Reid in the 

 'Zoological Proceedings' for 1835. The specimen was captured at 

 East Falkland Island, in 51 32' S. lat. 



Mr. Reid describes the bones as very hard, compact, and heavy, 

 having no apertures for the admission of air ; but they contain, espe- 

 cially the bones of the extremities, a thin oily marrow. 



The muscles were of a dark red colour, very tough, and having a 

 great deal of cellular membrane amongst them. The fascise were very 

 thick and strong. In no instance did Mr. Reid observe any tendency 

 to ossification in the tendons. In the tendons of the perforatus of the 

 first and second toes there was a sesumoid bone, scarcely equalling in 

 size a mustard-seed. 



The sensations of these curious birds do not seem to be very acute. 

 Span-man relates that he stumbled over a sleeping one and kinked it 

 some yards without disturbing its rest ; aud Forster states that he left 

 a number of them apparently lifeless, while he went in pursuit of 

 others ; but they afterwards got up and marched off with their usual 

 gravity. 



In the arrangement of these birds Mr. Vigors places them with the 

 Alcadce, which also include I'ria. [GUILLEMOTS; AUK.] Mr. Vigors 

 observes that the groups composing the Alcadce are characterised by 

 having no hind toe, and passes from them to the Pelecanidce by means 

 of Aptenodytet. [PELECANIIWE.J 



Head at Aptenodytei. 



Mr. Swainson observes that the hind toe in the Penguins and Cor- 

 morants is placed almost as forward as in the swifts. In the Penguin 

 the tarsus is so short as almost to be confounded with the sole of the 

 foot ; and it is probably rested upon the ground for its whole length 

 when the bird walks, just as in the bear and other plantigrade quadru- 

 peds ; it is also, he adds, remarkably broad ; the hind toe is placed in 

 front, and on the inner margin ; but it is so unusually small that, but 

 for its short but well-defined claw, it would not be perceived. This 

 claw is without any vestige of a web, or of a lobe, and is quite discon- 

 nected from the others ; of the three anterior toes the middle is the 

 longest, the outer rather less, and the inner the shortest. The whole 

 foot is remarkably flattened, as if to enable the bird to cover a greater 

 breadth of ground. (' Classification of Birds,' vol. i.) 



' 



, 

 , , lit, v 



Foot of Aptenodytcs, 



The Alcadce of Mr. Swainson consist of the genera I'ria, Alca, 

 Mormon, Chimerina (Escli.), Phuleris, and Aptenodytei. The family is 

 placed between the C'olymbidce and the Pelecanidcr. 



According to Mr. G. R. Gray, the genera of the Alcaclte are sub- 

 livided into the sub-families Alcana, Plutlerina, Sphenitcina, and 

 Uriantx. 



The Sjiheniscince comprehend the genera Sithenitcut, BrUson ; 

 E<ulypte, Vieillot ; Pi/goscclii, Wagler ; and Aptenodytea, Forster. 

 ['List of the Genera of Birds,' 1840.) Specimens of each of these 

 ;enera~are to be seen iu the British Museum. 



8 



