THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



199 



bay, and at about nine p.m. they could 

 be heard returning up the beach, chuck- 

 hng away and jibing at each other until 

 the nest was reached, when all thoughts 

 were turned towards the two little, 

 fluffy, sooty-brown chicks. As I write, 

 the family is still at Collaroy, but is 

 probably making arrangements for the 

 southward journey, to a locality where 

 the summer and winter will be spent. 



NOT THE ANTARCTIC PENGUIN. 



This species, which does not grow 

 more than 19 inches in length, must not 

 be confounded with any of the Ant- 

 arctic ]ienguins, as it does not extend 

 •south beyond Tasmania. It is dis- 

 tributed along the coasts of South 

 Western Australia, South Australia, 

 Victoria, Tasmania, and northward 

 along the New South Wales coast as 

 far as Port Stephens. The adult bird is 

 a slatey-blue colour on the up^ier parts, 

 the sides of the face and neck are in- 

 clined to be light grey ; the wings are a 

 darker shade of blue with a white inner 

 edge. The whole of the under surface 

 is silvery white, and the legs and feet 

 fleshy white, while the soles and nails 

 are blackish. 



The Little Penguin often builds its 

 nest in crevices in rocks on almost 

 inaccessible cliffs, though on some of 

 the islands off the coast of Victoria it 

 has been found nesting in open burrows 

 in the sandy soil among the grass tus- 



A young penguin is not exactly a pretty bird. 



[Photo. — J. R. Kinghorn. 



sooks. Its food does not consist en- 

 tirely of fish, the diet being varied 

 occasionally with marine algae and 

 small crustaceans. 



I was fortunate enough to be a])le to 

 vi^it the scene of the story in October 

 last, and there learnt from Mrs. Brown 

 the outline of the plot, and my very best 

 thanks are tendered here for the infor- 

 mation gained and the facilities given 

 for photographing the mother and her 

 young at the nest. I spent over an 

 hour there, hoping to get a photograph 

 of the male bird also, but he did not put 

 in an appearance. He was about two 

 hours overdue when I left (according to 

 his daily time table) and, as the mother 

 was getting very restless, I imagine 

 that he was in for a warm reception 

 when he eventually came home. 



She carefully examined the chick which I had photographed. 



[Photo.^ J. R. Kinghorn, 



