102 



THE OOLOGIST 



THE LITTLE BLUE PENGUIN 



(Eudyptula minor) 



By L. L. Redick 



The Little Penguin is always at 

 home on Mantague Island in New 

 South Wales, Australia. A magnificent 

 granite light house stands out promi- 

 nently on the southern side and warns 

 the coastal ships to have a care. The 

 island is well suited for seals and sea 

 birds and dangerous lo man at sea. 



Steamers cannot come close and one 

 must take his cha'nces in an open boat 

 when the sea is on its best behavior. 

 The island is about two miles long, 

 rocky and in many pla'ces even precipi- 

 tous. It is treeless but covered almost 

 entirely above its rocky sides or slopes 

 with tall wiry tussock grass. 



It was in October that I made my 

 first visit and my expectations of find- 

 ing the penguins at home were more 

 than lealizcd. Almost every large tus- 

 sock had ■" nest tucked away in its 

 shadowy depths, or under the roots 

 t:'nd dried grass, or in burrows hidden 

 by the heavy growth, — burrows that 

 had been made deeper or larger or 

 more sinuous by the patient work of 

 years. Under rooks, in clefts of tlie 

 rocky shore or gullies and even in bur- 

 rows on the grassy slopes, where 

 nothing hid the entrance from view, 

 the penguins noisily claimed pos- 

 session. 



One soon learns to be wary of the 

 parent bird that is doing the incuba- 

 tion for the day. A cross old broody 

 hen is the emblem of humility in con- 

 t/t;'3t. One successful grab of the 

 rowerful beak is enough. After thai 

 one will pull out the eggs from under 

 her with the crook of a cane, or, with 

 the hand covered with a bag or a cap, 

 get hold of tills zealftus nome gnard by 

 the neck, and enforce temporary cap- 

 tivity. 



It is always a case of no surrender 



and even in cases where the eggs have 

 not been laid, this determination to 

 hold the fort against all comers is most 

 persistent. Pulled from the nest it 

 will rush back on the instant, snarling 

 or squalking, whatever medley of fa- 

 miliar sounds you wish to apply in 

 description of the noise it makes 

 against intrusion in its domestic 

 affairs. 



The little Penguin is twelve to fif- 

 teen inches liigh. Its back is a steel 

 blue and its breast a aowny white. The 

 short powerful flippers and beak are 

 both used in climbing the steep shore 

 to its nest sometimes half a mile from 

 the water's edge or hundreds of feet 

 up, a steep hillside, or both The skin 

 is very tliick with fat, which protects 

 it from the results of the pounding it 

 gets against the rocks as it lands from 

 its daily excursion out to sea. 



One that we held captive for awhile 

 became quite docile after a couple ot 

 hours drilling before the camera. It 

 posed and preened its feathers at cur 

 feet and sitting straight up in its 

 comical way. When it discovered tliat 

 it was free to go, it put down its liead, 

 held out its flippers in the attitude of 

 readiness for all emergencies, aimed 

 for tlie sea and started straight toward 

 a sheer precipice , tieiow which the 

 breakers were roaring ominously. We 

 tried to liea'd it off for we had not 

 thought of suicide. It beat us to the 

 edge, however, and over it went. It 

 fell about 25 feet and struck a narrow 

 ledge, bounded off to another rock and 

 flnally disappeared in the foaming 

 waters. A few moments later we were 

 pleased to see its head moving sea- 

 ward, beyond the rough water and ap- 

 parently none the worse for the fall. 



We had no difficulty of obtaining a 

 photograph of an old bird on the nest, 

 for no amount of disturbance would 

 scare her away. We cut and pulled at 

 the grass to expose a nesting site, 



