September 1, 1894.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



209 



leaps out of the water and splashes into it again, describing 

 short curves in the air, tating headers out of the water and 

 headers into the water again ; splash, splash, went this 

 marvellous shoal of animals, till they went splash through 

 the surf on to the black stony beach, and there struggled 

 and jumped up amongst the boulders and revealed them- 

 selves as wet and dripping penguins, for such they were. 

 Much as I hiive read about penguins, I never could have 

 believed that the creatures I saw thus progressing through 

 the water were birds, imless I had seen them to my 

 astonishment thus make the shore." 



The first I saw of these birds was off the shores of 

 the Falkland Islands, over two hundred miles from the 

 nearest land. The vessel was making little headway 

 through the water, the wind having fallen, and coming 

 on deck for midday observations my attention was called 

 to " some small seals," which were playing about 

 the stern of the vessel. They were swimming calmly 

 about in the water, now immersing themselves entirely, 

 now lifting their heads only above water much in the 

 same way as one sees seals doing in the evening, or on 

 a bleak day, when they prefer to remain in the water rather 

 than to come out and lie on the ice, as they do when the sun 

 shines brightly. What the sailors took for seals were really 

 macaroni penguins (/'". c/iri/.suloplnu), with their sOky, hair- 

 like feathers looking like wet fur. The sailors refuse to 

 recognize feathers in this close-fitting fleece, black on the 

 back, and white on the breast. These are the two ways 

 in which penguins make headway through the water. The 

 reader has only to go at feeding time to the diving birds' 

 house at the Zoological Society's Gardens, in Kegent's 

 Park, in order to see the penguins disport themselves. 

 On the land, or on snow and ice, they also have two or three 

 modes of progression ; one is when they are standing in 

 an upright position — in this way they may be seen 

 wobbling over the ground with their very short legs and 

 padded feet. When they are in danger, however, they 

 throw themselves upon their white breasts, and use their 

 fore limbs as legs as well as their hind limbs. " When 

 crawling,' Darwin says, " it may be said on four legs, 

 through the tussocks or on the side of a grassy cliff, it 

 moves so very quickly that it might easily be mistaken for 

 a quadruped." On the ice they move even more swiftly, 

 as they take advantage of any slope, and glide swiftly 

 down it, toboggan fashion, upon their breasts. In this 

 way, if they choose, they can easily, and sometimes do, 

 escape their captors upon the ice floes ; for a man may sink 

 knee-deep into the snow while they glide onward upon 

 its surface. But they are inquisitive, and, fearing no 

 danger, approach their pursuers, only too often to be felled 

 with a club or stick ; this is especially the case with the 

 smaller birds. It is to be hoped that penguins will not 

 share the fate of their near relative, the great auk, which 

 at one time was plentiful in the northern seas, but is now 

 a thing of the past. 



pock hopper penguins, which abound in the Tristan 

 d'Achuna group, and which swim in the manner of 

 porpoises or dolphins, " hop from rock to rock with both 

 feet placed together, scarcely ever missing their footing." 

 This method of getting over the ground is also adopted 

 by the king penguin whilst hatching its egg ; for it carries 

 its egg from place to place in a pouch, holding it in with 

 its broad webbed feet. 



Penguins are gregarious, literally herding together in 

 millions. Sometimes their breeding places, or rookeries, 

 as they are generally called, cover many acres of ground. 

 Some have their rookeries among tussock grass, where 

 there are many streets and side streets occupied by myriads 

 of birds ; their dung is a rich manure for the grass, which 



grows luxuriantly from four to six feet high in clumps, 

 with hard woody masses at their base formed of the old 

 roots and stems, and arches over the streets. Anyone 

 entering these streets is unmercifully pecked at by the 

 birds ; their cries are terrific, and the odour arising from 

 their dung is stifling ; eventually one flees headlong, 

 tramping on birds and eggs at every footstep. Some breed on 

 the open and bare rock, others, such as the gentoo, build in 

 holes they have burrowed in the ground ; and others again, 

 such as the small penguin of New Zealand (E. minor) nest 

 in caves. At the entrance to rookeries the rocks are often 

 smooth and polished, which is probably due to the diatoms 

 in the food and dung of the birds, which clings to their 

 feet. The king penguin builds no nest at all. The jackass 

 penguin of South Africa builds its nest of stones, shells, 

 wood, nails, bits of rope, &c., evidently for drainage pur- 

 poses, although, as Moseley suggested, this may be due to 

 " a sort of magpie delight in curiosities." The magellanic, 

 or jackass penguin of the Falkland Islands, similarly 

 collects variously coloured pebbles at the mouth of its 

 burrows. Most penguin's eggs are greenish-white ; that 

 of the king penguin is more than ordinarily pointed at the 

 thin end. As yet we know nothing of the breeding habits, 

 nest, or eggs of the emperor penguin. 



It is unnecessary to enumerate and describe all the 

 different species of penguins here ; but it may be mentioned 

 that the following four genera are usually recognized, viz., 

 Aptenodytes, Eudyptes, Sphenisci, and Pygosceles. About 

 fifty specimens of about sixteen different species of these 

 four genera are exhibited in the British Museum, South 

 Kensington, and it is well worth while for the reader to 

 pay a visit to the museum to see these most remarkable 

 birds. As in most museums, however, these birds are not 

 as well stuffed as they might be, and it may here be 

 mentioned that one scarcely ever sees a trustworthy 

 picture of a penguin. A penguin in good condition is 

 very plump, and does not go about with an elongated neck, 

 although it is capable of extending its neck considerably. 

 One can never tire of watching these most extraordinary 

 and interesting creatures, they look so human ! Often 

 one cannot help laughing outright at the attitudes they 

 assume. 



The largest and rarest of penguins is the emperor 

 penguin, which, along with the king penguin, belongs to 

 the Aptenodytes. We must stop specially to consider this 

 bird. The emperor penguin {A. forsteri) was first dis- 

 covered by Captain Cook, and was met with again by 

 Sir James Ross during his ever famous voyage to the 

 South Seas in 1839-43. It was next seen and captured 

 by the Antarctic Expedition, 1892-93. Some fine specimens 

 of the bird may be seen in the British Museum. The 

 largest Ross obtained weighed seventy-eight pounds. 

 " Its principal food," says Ross, " consists of various 

 species of cancri, and other crustaceous animals ; and in 

 its stomach we frequently found from two to ten pounds' 

 weight of pebbles. ... It was a very difficult matter 

 to kill them, and a most cruel operation until we resorted 

 to hydrocyanic (prussic) acid, of which a tablespoonful 

 effectually accomplished the purpose in less than a minute." 

 The largest specimen we obtained weighed seventy-four 

 pounds. The measurements of the dead bird were as 

 follows ; — 



Length (from tip of beak to vent j ... ... ... 3 ft. 8 iu. 



Breast girth ... ... ... ... ... ... 29 inches. 



Abdominal girth ... ... ... ... ... 34 inches. 



Muscles of breast (equal to more than one-third total 



weight of bird, viz.) ... ... ... ... ... 25 lbs. 



I had hoped to bring this splendid bird home alive, but 

 accommodation on board the vessel did not allow me to 



