MOULTING OF THE KINC4 PENGUIN. 61 



from the iinimiture to the adult pkuiiage of Humholdt's Penguin 

 {Sj)henisGus humboldti) by tlie hite Mr. A. D. Bartlett *. 



1 propose to supplement these papers with some observations 

 I have made on the moult of a King Penguin lecently acquired 

 by the Society. 



The specimen observed by Mr. de Winton did not moult until 

 it had been in the Gardens some sixteen months, when it began 

 to look " seedy," the feathers losing their lustre and the bird 

 sitting moping with half-closed eyes. This state of things went 

 on for fully a month before any feathers were shed. When it 

 began to moult 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." The tail-feathers were the first to be 

 shed, and it was observed that the bird assisted the lemoval of 

 the feathei's by pushing them oft' with its beak. This moult took 

 place in August-September and occupied al)out a month. 



The example fi-om which I have taken my notes was presented 

 to the Society by Seuor Clemente Onelli, and arrived at the 

 Gardens on February 11th, 1911, since which date it has gone 

 through two complete moults, the first in March, and the second 

 in August-September. The moulting of this species seems to be 

 very irregular in captivity. The bird observed by Mr. de AVinton 

 arrived in the Gardens in June 1897, but did not begin to 

 moult until August of the following year. It lived until 

 January 1903, but did not repeat the process of moulting, its 

 plumage gradually fading to a sandy-brown colour, so that when 

 two new birds were received in 1902 they were haidly to be 

 recognised as belonging to the same species. Our present 

 specimen has, as before mentioned, completed the })i"ocess twice 

 in six months. 



This irregularity is doubtless due to the changed climatic 

 conditions under which the lurds live here. In all probability 

 they normally moult once during the year, but on this point we 

 have no evidence. On both occasions upon which our present 

 specimen has moulted here, the process was completed in just 

 four weeks. In neither case did the plumage appear faded to any 

 appreciable extent before the moult, the feathers being merely 

 somewhat dirty and stained with fish. Jiefore moulting the bird 

 took an extra tpiantity of fish, devouring as many as fifteen herrings 

 a day, but just before the moidt commenced its appetite failed 

 and it was with difficulty that the keejier persuaded it to take 

 even one fish a day. The bird began to look very puffed out all 

 over and its eyes became dull. 



The tail-feathers were the first to be shed, and the feathers 

 began to come off from the lower regions genei'ally and the 

 process to be gradually continued upwards. The undersides of 

 the wings, however, were clean movilted at an early period. 



It was observed that the feathers were not shed easily, but had 



* P. Z. S. 1879, p. 6. 



