FAIRY PENGUIN. 9 



Smallest Penguins with short stout bills, small flippers, very short tail and short 

 legs and stout feet. The bill is stout and laterally compressed, the tip descending 

 and hooked, overlapping the under mandible ; the culmen ridge is semi-keeled, 

 the sides almost vertical. The nostrils are recognisable as narrow oval slits situated 

 in a distinct irregular groove which runs from the fore-head diagonally across the 

 mandible to a point about two-thirds the length of the bill ; the lateral behind this 

 groove a little expanded basally. The under mandible deep and consisting of two 

 rami only enclosing a very short feathered interramal space. The flipper is small 

 and delicate. The tail is composed of sixteen very narrow feathers, forming a 

 rounded wedge and very short, being hidden by the upper tail-coverts. The tarsus 

 is very short and broad, covered with minute reticulate scaling. There is a small 

 hind-toe and claw present. The anterior toes are comparatively long and broad, 

 covered with reticulate scales, the middle toe longest, the outer a little longer than 

 the inner. The webbing is full and the claws are long, narrow and stout. 



Coloration blue above, white below. 



4. Eudyptula minor. FAIRY PENGUIN. 



[Aptenodytes minor Forster, Comm. Getting., Vol. III., p. 147, (after May 15th) 1781 : Dusky 

 Sound, New Zealand. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VIL, pi. 84 (pt. xvi.), Sept. 1st, 1844: pi. 85 (pt. xxxni.), Dec. 1st, 1848. 

 Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 5, pis. 66 and 67, Oct. 31st, 1911. 



Spheniscus novcehollandice Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., Vol. XIII., pt. I., p. 68, Feb. 18th, 



1826, based on Watling painting No. 291 : Port Jackson, New South Wales. 



Aptenodytes australis " Gray," Griffith and Pidgeon, Anim. Kingd., Cuvier, Vol. VIII., p. 563, 



"1829 " (1830), for same as preceding. 



Aptenodytes undina Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1844, p. 57, Sept.: Circular Head, 



Tasmania. 



Eudyptula minor woodwardi Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 199, Jan. 31st, 1912 : 



Sandy Hook Island, South-west Australia. 



DISTBIBUTION. Coasts of extra-tropical Australia and Tasmania. 



Adult male. Upper-surface glossy bluish-grey, the feathers with black shafts 

 and grey margins ; flippers darker than the upper-surface, and the lower edge 

 margined with white for about two rows of feathers ; tail-feathers white with black 

 shafts towards the base ; sides of face and sides of breast ashy ; chin and entire 

 under-surface, including the flippers, white ; the feathers of the fore-neck have dusky 

 bases with blackish shaft-streaks ; a line of feathers with dusky bases crosses the 

 vent from the thighs on either side ; bill brownish -black, lower mandible pinkish - 

 white ; iris silvery-white with brown edge ; feet pinkish -white. Total length 

 398 mm. ; culmen (exp.) 38, depth of bill 12, flippers 111, tail 28, tarsus 24, 

 middle toe and claw 48. Average measurements, culmen 38.5, depth of bill 14.4, 

 flipper 118.8, tarsus 26.7, middle toe and claw 49.7 mm. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male, but a shade smaller. Average measure- 

 ments, culmen 36.9, depth of bill 12.3, flipper 114.4, tarsus 25.5, middle toe and 

 claw 47.2 mm. 



Immature (about three-quarters grown). Head, entire back, sides of the body 

 and a band across the fore-neck sooty-brown, somewhat darker on the head and 

 flippers, and paler on the fore-neck ; the throat ashy -grey, and the remainder of 

 the under-surface dull white ; soft parts similar to those of adult. 



Nestling. Sooty-brown on the back and throat, becoming paler on the 

 abdomen ; top of the head and sides of the face black ; soft parts as in adult ; feet 

 bluish-white. 



Nest. A little dry grass or weeds, placed in cavities between rocks, a hollow 

 scraped out underneath tussock grass or other vegetation, or sometimes a deserted 

 Petrel's burrow, usually on isolated islands. 



