91 



In both sexes the feet are of a delicate yellow colour. Irides bright chestnut-red; the eye 

 flat, as in the other species, having the appearance of a button, the pupil being extremely small. 

 At the angle of the mouth there is a fleshy membrane of a dull pink colour, forming, when the 

 bill is closed, a conspicuous, slightly tumid, triangular patch. The sexes are alike, but the male 

 has a more robust bill and a larger amount of golden-yellow in the vertex and crest. 



Young. — Has the throat entirely grey; this diminishes in the second year's plumage, 

 and appears to disappear altogether in the third year; but this is more conjectural on my part 

 than certain. Some adult birds with rich golden or orange crests show vestiges of their 

 adolescent grey plumage. 



I have met with a remarkable case of melanism in this species, the skin having been received 

 from Macquarie Island. The following is a detailed description : — 



Upper surface slaty-black with a blue tinge, the margins of the feathers being of that colour ; crown 

 and nape darker, with brownish-black tips, much produced. Under surface uniform sooty or slaty-black, 

 relieved by burnished greyish points on the fore-neck ; nippers blue-black on both the upper and under 

 surfaces, with a very narrow exterior edging of pale brown. There is hardly any appearance of crests, 

 but beyond the eye, on each side, the feathers are somewhat lengthened and are tinged, more or less, 

 with golden-yellow. There is a very slight tinge of the same colour discernible on disturbing the 

 feathers of the vertex. There is (as well as I can make out in the dried specimen) the same fleshy 

 membrane at the angles of the mouth. Three small white feathers which I plucked from the abdomen 

 confirms the view of melanism. 



The specimen under notice gave the following measurements :— Extreme length 2 ft. 8 in. ; length 

 of flipper 7'30 in. ; tail 4 in. ; bill, along the ridge 2'75 in., along the edge of lower mandible 3 in. ; tarsus 

 T25 in. ; middle toe and claw 3"25 in. ; hind toe and claw 062 in. ; maximum depth of bill about 1 in. — 

 the upper mandible with a deep groove in the line of the nostrils. 



I have had an opportunity of examining four curious specimens of this bird from the 

 Macquarie Islands. Three of them are partial albinoes. No. 1 has the entire surface of 

 the nippers and the whole of the body below their insertion white, tinged with cream-colour 

 on the upper parts. There is no distinct line of demarcation against the dark plumage above 

 the wings, but each feather has a brown centre, and this increases in extent till the darker 

 plumage is reached; above the tail there are also a few touches of brown; and the tail- 

 feathers, which are white, have brown margins ; rest of the plumage normal, the golden-yellow 

 on the forehead being extensive and very vivid. Nos. 2 and 3 have less white on the 

 upper surface, the plumage of the back being pale yellowish-brown. The fourth specimen 

 has a strong tendency towards melanism. On the right-hand side of the body there are 

 large irregular patches of slaty-black feathers, covering about one-third of its extent. There 

 is also a cloudy patch on the throat. 



In two other examples submitted to me there were scattered feathers of the same colour 

 on the under-surface of the body. 



In Mr. W. H. Bickerton's article, mentioned on page 79, a vivid picture is drawn of the 

 multitudes of these birds on Macquarie Island. He says : — 



When we reached the ' rookery ' the Penguins were there in countless numbers ; an immense fiat, 



between one and two miles across, was crammed fall of them. And then the row they made ! before 



arriving at the rookery the noise reminded us of sheep, but when we turned the corner and saw them 

 ahead it was deafening, and we soon found ourselves of necessity shouting at the top of our voices. It 

 took some little time for shouting to become natural, and often we would face each other and start 

 talking with voices that were inaudible. 





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