Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlviii. (1904), No. ^3. 25 



visitor, like a chameleon. I have observed that this 

 singular habit of examining a strange object in this 

 manner is not confined exclusively to this species. A 

 tame bullfinch {Pyrrhuln vulgaris) in my possession 

 invariably examines any strange object placed in his 

 cage in exactly the same way. A sitting " Jackass " will 

 frequently, without any remonstrance, allow the eggs to 

 be removed from beneath her with the crooked handle of 

 a walking stick, if the operation is performed gently ; but 

 if violence is used, or the fledglings are present, the parent 

 bird fights furiously, and utters the peculiar braying note 

 repeatedly. A penguin under such conditions is not to 

 be trifled with, a peck with its powerful bill will inflict a 

 serious wound. Darwin {loc. cit.), in his notes on the 

 Ornithology of these islands, writes concerning the habits 

 of this species as follows : " When at sea and fishing it " 

 {Aptenodytes demersa, as Darwin calls this penguin) 

 " comes to the surface for the purpose of breathing with 

 "such a spring, and dives again so instantaneously, that 

 " I defy anyone at first sight to be sure that it is not a fish 

 " leaping for sport." I have read this extract to several 

 observing residents in the Falklands, and they all agree 

 with me that Darwin has for the moment confused this 

 species with the " Rockhopper " {Eudyptes chrysocoine). 

 I have had many good chances of closely studying the 

 habits of the " Jackass " penguin, especially during the 

 early summer mornings when out in my dinghy collecting 

 in Stanley harbour ; and occasionally have had numbers 

 of them round my boat. This species invariably comes 

 up to the surface after a dive, and appears to drink a little 

 of the sea-water ; at anyrate it moistens its bill. The 

 bird sits very low in the water, only leaving the head and 

 neck well exposed, the body being only slightly visible. 

 This fact makes it almost impossible to shoot a specimen, 



