Order SPHENISCIFOEMES.] 



[Family SPHENISCIMl. 



CATAREHACTES SCLATERI. 



(SCLATEE'S PENGUIN.) 



Eudyptes sclateri, Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 289. 



This Penguin is conspicuously larger than C. pachyrhynchus. The golden facial streak com- 

 mences near the angle of the mouth, which is surrounded with a bare membrane as in C. schlegeli 

 although not to the same extent. The hides are reddish-brown, and the legs and feet flesh- 

 white. 



On the 25th of February the ' Hinemoa ' brought me from Antipodes Island four living- 

 examples of this species and ten of Catarrhactes chrysocome. The examples of Catarrhactes 

 sclateri interested me very much, because although young birds, they were somewhat advanced, 

 and just undergoing the first seasonal moult — throwing off the adolescent plumage and 

 assuming that of the adult state. The young of this species has the plumage of the upper 

 parts much duller, being mixed with brown, and the throat, instead of being black, is 

 greyish-white, darker in some specimens than in others. In one of the two which I 

 secured the chin was white, and this portion of the plumage not having moulted off, the 

 bird presented a singular appearance, the white chin being very conspicuous. In the 

 young bird the superciliary streak, which is broad and well defined, is white, instead of 

 being golden-yellow, as in the adult. This species is found both on Antipodes Island and 

 on Campbell Island. It has never, I believe, been found on the Auckland Islands. The species 

 inhabiting that group is Megadytes antipodum. 



A bird undergoing the first moult (February) presents the following features : Yellow facial 

 streak broad and distinct, in a line with the nostrils, but at present extending only one inch 

 beyond the head; throat black, with well-defined lower margin, the old white plumage still 

 adhering to the chin for the space of one inch from the angle of the crura of the lower mandible, 

 and giving a very peculiar appearance to the head. The old dark plumage is still clinging to the 

 forehead, and the feathers are peeling off the flippers ; but all the body-plumage has been com- 

 pletely renewed. 



Young of first year. — Differs from the adult in having the plumage duller, and the throat 

 dark grey, shading into the dark plumage on the sides of the head ; a broad superciliary streak of 

 white springing not far from the angles of the mouth. At the first moult the white streak is 

 replaced by a golden crest, the feathers of which project beyond the head. Bill dark-brown, 

 and less robust than in the adult. 



Nestling. — Upper surface covered with dark sooty-brown down, short and thick in texture ; 

 under surface white. Bill black. 



Of this species, hitherto only known as occurring on the Auckland Islands, I have obtained 

 an adult pair killed on the Otago coast. This Penguin, when captured, utters a cry not unlike 

 the scream of a brood-hen when taken off her nest. 



Mr. Ogilvie Grant, in the 'Catalogue of Birds,' British Museum (vol. xxvi.,p. 641), expresses 

 surprise that I did not make more of the form of the bill when describing this species, and he 



