inches in length with a wing of some six inches, and is dark blue black on the back, 

 jet black on the head and throat, and with the crest somewhat shorter and closer 

 set than in the typical crested variety. The beak, as the name implies, is also 

 much stouter; and the feet, instead of being a dull bluish flesh colour, are reddish 

 brown. This penguin does not reach Australia and is uncommon in New Zea- 

 land, although it breeds here. Its principal haunts are at Bounty and Antipodes 

 Islands, where it forms large rookeries. 



Worthy of notice, also, is that variety known as the Royal Penguin, 

 (Catarrhactes schlegeli), a somewhat rare species which is sometimes mistaken 

 for a young Yellow-eyed Penguin. It differs from that species in that the eye 

 is brown and the yellow crown is only edged with clear yellow above the eyes, 

 and not completely encircled. The back is brownish blue. The Royal Penguin 

 is, properly speaking, an inhabitant of the Campbell and Macquarrie Islands, 

 and is only observed as a straggler, and does not breed on the mainland. 



The smallest members of the penguin family are comprised by the genus 

 EudyptuLa (meaning expert little diver). There are actually three species, two 

 of which are quite common on the shores of Australia and Tasmania, although 

 many naturalists will not admit more than two species for New Zealand, and one 

 of these for Australia. The largest, and incidentally the commonest species 

 met with is the Blue Penguin, (E. minor) which is sometimes, though erroneous- 

 ly, called the Rock Hopper. It is a plump, amusing little bird measuring eigh- 

 teen inches in length with a wing of about four inches. The colour of the back 

 varies between a bright pale blue and a dull blue black, and the lower surface is 

 silvery white. 



It is an amusing sight to watch a flock of these birds coming ashore at 

 night to roost. They clamber up the slippery rocks, to be time after time washed 

 back by the tide; but when eventually several do succeed in getting ashore, they 

 squabble and buffet each other with right good will. One can almost imagine 

 them saying, "There, take thatl What did you want to push me back for?" 

 as with plumage ruffled and flippers whirling, they rush together with angry 

 cries. 



The Little Blue or Fairy Penguin [EudyptuLa undina Gould, Ed.], to some 

 writers the doubtful species, is always smaller, being only fourteen or fifteen 

 inches in length, though otherwise identical in appearance and habit. Its egg 

 is also smaller, being invariably a quarter or a fifth of an inch less in length. 



The last on the list is a variety said to be found only at Banks' Penin- 

 sula, and which is known as the White-flippered Penguin [E. aibosignala Finsch, 

 Ed.]. It is about the same size as the Blue Penguin, and differs only in 

 having both the front and rear edges of the flippers edged widely with white, 

 whereas the Blue Penguin has only the rear edge narrowly marked. It is com- 

 paratively a little known variety, but it is hardly conceivable that its habits and 

 mode of life would differ at all from those of its near relatives. The three last 

 mentioned penguins nest in burrows which they dig with the beak and feet, in 

 which they lay two chalky white eggs, about the size of a hen's egg, the time of 

 incubation being from twenty-six to twenty-eight days. 



ARGUMENTUM AD HOMINEM ET AB HEN 



It seems to puzzle many good people how the oologist can profess and 

 manifest a "love for birds" and yet steel his heart to rob them of their eggs. It 

 is a contradiction! A paradox! Well, perhaps it will be helpful to follow the 

 analogy of the poultry raiser and the hen. Some people, no doubt, follow poul- 

 try- raising for pelf. They are out for the easiest scads and they would follow 

 the lure of gold whether this meant the raising of hens or rutabagas, or whether 

 it lay through the manufacture of horse-collars. But most people are in the 

 poultry business because they are fond of hens. They are poultry "fanciers;" 

 and all the marvelous development of breed and form and color has been due 



20 



