Order SPENISCIFOKMES.] 



[Family SPHENISCIDiE. 



APTENODYTES PATAGONICA. 



(KINCx PENGUIN.) 



Aptenodytes longirostris, Scop. ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, yoL ii., p. 306. 



The Penguins, as a family, are noted for their ferocity, snapping and biting in a very determined 

 manner when interfered with or handled. The King Penguin, however, notwithstanding its great 

 size and its power of muscle, is one of the gentlest of birds. On being captured they naturally 

 struggle to escape, and sometimes utter a peculiar guttural cry ; but in confinement they immedi- 

 ately become quite tame and tractable. Although armed with a powerful bill they never use it 

 for offensive purposes. They submit to being stroked on the head and back without showing- 

 even a sign of impatience and, when an attempt is made to handle them, they merely parry the 

 intrusive hand with their long flippers, and in the gentlest manner. Captain Pairchild, on one 

 Y occasion, brought me four fine adult birds and a nestling from the Macquarie Islands. One of 

 the former went immediately to the dissecting-room. The others I turned loose in the garden, 

 together with a large contingent of Gatarrhactes sclateri and G. schlegeli. The latter scuttled off 

 and took refuge in the shrubbery ; but the three King Penguins remained on the grass slope, and 

 made themselves perfectly at home at once. Owing to their peculiar conformation they do not 

 rest in a squatting attitude like the other Penguins, but either sit bolt upright, resting the whole 

 weight of the body on the heel of the foot, or lie full length on the ground. In the early morning 

 I found them lying prone on the belly, with their heads meeting and crossing one another. They 

 remained in this position and perfectly motionless till the sun was well up in the heavens. On 

 two of these birds being removed, the remaining one appeared quite disconsolate, and wandered 

 over the place for a whole morning, looking for his mates. He stalked about in the drollest manner, 

 walking perfectly upright and swaying his outstretched flippers, for the purpose of steadying the 

 body. Having failed to find his companions, he settled down in the most philosophic fashion, 

 and never left that corner of the garden where he had taken up his abode. He would not take 

 food when offered, but on my forcing open his mandibles and placing minced raw meat in 

 his mouth, he swallowed it with avidity. 



The nestling is covered with thick woolly down of a uniform sooty colour. It is a voracious 

 feeder, uttering all day long a shrill squirling cry and opening its beak to be fed. Its appetite 

 appears to have no limit, for no sooner has it swallowed one handful of minced meat than 

 it stretches up its neck and clamours for more. When calling for food it sways its neck to 

 and fro, after the manner of a young Cormorant, as if to give greater emphasis to its demands. 

 When alarmed the King Penguin utters a low cry like that of a domestic Goose. 



The nearest point at which this Penguin can be obtained is Macquarie Island, lying about 

 lat. 55° S. There is a tradition, however, on board the ' Hinemoa,' of one having been seen, 

 among a group of Crested Penguins, on Campbell Island. It was made out with the glass long- 

 before the ship came alongside. It is not unlikely, however, that this was a bird that had made 

 its escape from one of the sealing ships on its way from Macquarie Island. 



The bird of the first year is covered with a shaggy, hair-like down of a yellowish-brown 

 colour. This is gradually replaced by short plumage, presenting the colours of the adult, but 

 much duller. The spatulate marks on the side of the head are of a pale greenish-yellow colour, 

 and on the breast there is at first only a tinge of yellow, where in later life this colour becomes so 

 pronounced. The young birds are phenomenally fat. 



