42 BIRDS OF KERGUELEN ISLAND. 



Bill, lower mandible and lower margin of upper mandible brilliant- 

 orange; upper portion and tip of upper mandible black. 



Nostrils opening by slits at sides of bill, 1.25 inches from its tip. Bill, 

 as a whole, long, narrow, and pointed. 



Head black, excepting an irregularly dumb-bell-shaped white band 

 from eye to eye ; the narrowest part of the marking being at the back 

 and top of the head. 



Iris rich-brown. Pupil lozenge-shaped when contracted. 



Body, belly, breast, and underside of flippers white, the remainder of 

 the body being black. The scales on the flippers are more evidently 

 rudimentary feathers than in other penguins, the lowermost row being 

 tipped with white. The feathers generally are small, pointed, and with- 

 out distinct blade, similar to "pin-feathers". 



Tail compressed from side to side, formed of very stiff quills, and dis- 

 posed like the canvas of a tent, the ridge looking upward. 



Tarsus and foot orange-colored, scutellated. 



Claws black. Distinct rudimentary hind toe. 



On the arrival of the Swatara at Kerguelen, these birds had already 

 begun to lay, and we had their eggs for breakfast on the morning of 

 September 10, finding them quite free from any fishy flavor, and, 

 although rather insipid, a very acceptable change from sea-diet. The 

 fact that when cooked the albuminous portion only partially coagulates 

 renders them less inviting in appearance than other eggs ; and, prob- 

 ably on this account, the custom is to serve only the yelks. Two or 

 three of the birds were captured by the boat's crew which went on shore 

 after the eggs, and brought back to the ship, where they created a good 

 deal of amusement. When walking away from the spectator, swaying 

 from side to side, with flippers hanging well away from the body, they 

 bear a ridiculous resemblance to small children just beginning to walk 

 who have put on overcoats much too long for them. A rookery was 

 found about two miles from our station, which I visited September 16, 

 finding many eggs. It is established upon the seaward extremity of a 

 high rocky ridge, running nearly parallel with the trend of the shore, 

 and abutting upon the sea in lofty bluffs. At the foot of this ridge is a 

 little rocky cove, where the penguins land, and beyond the coast becomes 

 precipitous, the rocks rising perpendicularly some hundred or more feet. 

 Up the very steep inland slope of this hill, thickly overgrown with the 

 "Kerguelen cabbage"* and "tea",t the penguins have to climb, after 



* Pringlea antiscoriutica. t Accena affinis. 



