Gough, Kerguelen, and South Georgia Islands. 453 



Mr. Comer writes, " The top of the beak is black, lower part bright 

 yellow, sometimes dark yellow ; top of feet black, bottom white ; 

 pupil of eye dark, with a brown rim. They keep by themselves. 

 All the King Penguins that I saw carried their eggs. There is no 

 pouch, but the egg is held there by keeping the legs pressed together. 

 They will not drop it unless forced to. Do not recollect of ever see- 

 ing any nest. They lay but one egg. Commence laying about the 

 first of January." 



It has frequently been stated* that these penguins carry the egg 

 in a pouch, but Dr. Kidder states that he found none in skinning 

 them and Mr. Comer was positive that the egg is simply held 

 between the thighs. 



Recently Mr. R. G. Hazard has published an article on this sub- 

 ject, f He saw Capt. Fuller, who was captain of the schooner when 

 Mr. Comer made the voyage to Gough Island, and gave him a small 

 camera to take with him on one of his sealing trips, hoping to get 

 some pictures of the various birds and mammals he met with, and 

 especially a photograph with reference to the alleged pouch for the 

 Qgg in this species of penguin. Unfortunately very few of the 

 pictures turned out well, but, among the few that did, he got one of 

 the king penguins, which he apparently thinks is very good proof of 

 the existence of the pouch. This has been redrawn and published 

 (1. c). It shows the birds standing around in a number of charac- 

 teristic positions, and, so far, is a decided success and will undoubtedly 

 do much towards revolutionizing the conventional positions in which 

 these birds are so often drawn and mounted, with their necks 

 stretched out nearly full length ; but, to my mind at least, it far 

 from proves the existence of any real pouch. It shows a sailor hold- 

 ing a bird, breast up, in his lap, and between the bird's legs is seen 

 the egg which the man is apparently holding in place with his 

 fingers, but that there is any pouch there is certainly not shown in 

 the cut ( it may be in the original photograph), which simply shows 

 the egg as partly concealed among the dense feathers of the lower 

 part of the abdomen. Our specimen was taken during the breeding 

 season and is an adult bird in full plumage, but no sign of a pouch, 

 or even fold in the skin, can I find, and I have examined carefully ; 

 and then the testimony of a careful man and good observer like Dr. 



* " These birds carry their eggs in a complete pouch between their legs, and hold it 

 in by keeping their broad web feet tucked close together under it." Notes of a 

 Naturalist on the Challenger by H. N. Moseley, p. 178. 



f Auk., Oct., 1894, p. 280, pi. viii ; reprinted in Forest and Stream, Nov. 10th, 1894. 



