578 



SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



[Aves. 



Catarrhactes sclateri, Buller. (Big-crested penguin.) 



Eudyptes sclateri Buller, Birds of N.Z., ed. 2, ii, 1888, p. 289. 



I have given above some notes on the occurrence of this penguin at the Antipodes 

 Islands, but a little may be added. Long before the islands were reached, and, 

 indeed, while they were little more than discernible, the odour of penguin was borne 

 across the water by a breeze off the land. The distance being lessened, the smell 

 became more and more pronounced, and increasingly disagreeable. Nearer still, and 

 a peculiar sound was carried over the waves : this was the distant cry of thousands 



l''iG. 20. — Victoria Penguins (Catarrlmctes ■paeliyrhynchux), the Snares. 



upon thousands of penguins, details of which we were soon to be in a position to 

 analyse. As we approached the land the water was seen to be thick with swimming 

 birds. When quietly moving through the water the birds use their paddles only, 

 the feet being pressed closely together behind. When, however, rapid progress is 

 desired the method of locomotion is entirely changed. The appearance presented is 

 exactly that of a school of dolphins or porpoises, each bird appearing above the water 

 for a moment, with arched back, and vanishing again with a peculiar rolling action. 

 A broad belt of kelp extends some little distance from the shore, and the birds avoided 

 entanglement by diving beneath it. As they reappeared upon the beach they looked 



