1898.] MOTTLTING or THE KITifG PENGITIN. 901 



In the latter part o£ July, before any feathers were shed, it was 

 obvious that the bird was looking very " seedy," in fact sickening 

 for moult. The feathers of all parts lost their lustre, the colour 

 of the beak faded, and the head became grey, as if half o£ the 

 feathers were wanting ; but this I do not think was the case. 

 The bird did not go into the water, and sat moping with half- 

 closed eyes : it ceased to call in its loud manner and to put 

 itself into the usual ludicrous attitudes. This state of things 

 went on for some weeks, but it was not noticed that any feathers 

 were shed until the latter part of August. The keeper tells me 

 that the feathers of the tail were the first to come out, and I saw 

 the bird removing the feathers of the upper and lower tail-coverts 

 in the first week of September. About this time there was a very 

 observable change in the appearance of the bird — the colour had 

 almost entirely gone from the patch at the base of the lower man- 

 dible, and, instead of the clear orange colour, this patch appeared to 

 be of a pale horn-colour. The feathers of the back and wings became 

 as brown as withered leaves, so that the bird looked as if it were 

 covered with mud ; there was a triangular space on the throat or 

 lower neck where the longer breast-feathers were commencing to 

 fall : the space was never naked, but covered thickly with very short 

 feathers, so that there was only a deep dent in the plumage which 

 increased daily in size. From this time the bird was always very 

 busy picking its feathers off ; nearly all of them were removed by 

 its bill, not pulled but pushed off; and there was no general 

 peeling-off in large masses as is described by Mr. Bartlett in the 

 case of the other species. 



When the moult was nearly completed and only a few dried-up 

 feathers adhered to the back and upperside of the middle of the 

 wings, the epidermal covering of the orange-coloured patches on 

 the lower mandibles loosened and came off like pieces of parchment 

 or dry bladder. By the third week of September the bird was in 

 perfectly fresh plumage ; it was constantly to be seen in the water 

 lying for hours on the surface spread-eagled, which is a very 

 favourite attitude. One week afterwards its feathers seemed full- 

 grown, the colours perfectly fresh and bright, and it constantly 

 crowed in its well-known way, especially towards the evening. 



It will be noticed that whereas the moult of Sjiheniscus, as 

 recorded by Mr. Bartlett, took place in February-March, the moult 

 of Aptenoclytes occurred in August-September. The fact that this 

 bird has been in captivity for fully 18 months and that it did not 

 moult in the autvmin of last year, proves either that this species 

 does not moult every year, or that captivity retarded the moult. 

 The latter supposition would seem the more probable, seeing that 

 this moult took place at the opposite season to that in which the 

 Spheniscus moulted. The same argument might be taken in the 

 case of this latter species ; but I consider that the moult is more 

 likely to take place in autumn .(that is, in February-March) in the 

 Antarctic Seas, than in spring, for this would clash with the 

 nuptial season if early, and with the rearing of the young if taken 



