THE MOULTING OF THE KING PENGUIN. 
123 
— at feeding times only would the three varieties associate together ; -at all other 
times each kind kept itself very much to itself. Murphy noticed this in regard to 
King and Gentoo Penguins in South Georgia ; but in the case of the Penguins in the 
Scottish Zoological Park, the Rockhopper was equally exclusive. 
One of the adult Kings died three weeks after arriving in this country, and the 
Gentoo succumbed two months later. The Rockhopper survived until November 
1914 ; but beyond observing that it kept up its aloofness to the end, no special notes 
were taken of its habits during its brief sojourn in Scotland. The three remaining 
Kings did not seem to miss their relatives in the smallest degree. 
The adult bird (“ A”) during the spring of 1914 occasionally took a swim, but 
spent most of its time sitting about with the young ones. The two immature birds 
(“ B” and “ C ”) never went into the water in the down stage, but fed freely all the 
time — ten to twelve fresh whitings being greedily consumed by each of them daily. 
About the 17th of May 1914 one of the young birds (“ C ”) began to show signs 
of losing the brown down and acquiring its new feathers. - This was most noticeable 
on the legs just above the feet, but the process was very soon arrested, and only 
resumed and completed in September. In the other young bird (“ B ”) the moulting 
began on the 22nd of May, but proceeded very slowly until the 9th of July, when 
the new tail quills began to show. On the 6th of August, however, a real start was 
made, the brilliant colouring of the auricular patches and the throat became very 
noticeable, and by the 14th of the same month the bird had lost all its down and 
acquired a coat almost as brilliant as that of the adult. 
The young penguins, soon after the moult was completed, began to assume the 
orange-pink tint which distinguishes the lower mandible of the adult ; up to this 
time the mandible was of a nearly black colour. It is interesting to note that of the 
three King Penguins, only one of them (“ B ”) has assumed the green -gloss or bloom 
on the top of the head. 
The voice of the young penguin is a kind of clear whistle, very gentle and quite 
musical. With the change of coat, however, this note was gradually altered till it 
became a fair imitation of the trumpet-like voice of the adult. About a month after 
the moult was completed the whistle was never used except occasionally at feeding 
time, and later the trumpet-call only was used, so that by December 1914 the 
voices of the young birds could not be distinguished from that of the old one. Up 
till this time the young birds had made very little use of their pond, but gradually 
they took more and more to the water, and spent several hours in it daily. The 
adult and two young birds were very friendly with each other and always went 
about together — if one started for a walk, the others solemnly followed in single 
file, and if the leader elected to go into the water the others did the same.* 
Curiosity appears to be one of the chief" characteristics of penguins. Anything 
* In May 1915 the penguins were transferred to new quarters, including a pool in which they could swim and 
dive when the spirit moved them. 
TRANS. ROY. SOC. EDIN., VOL. L1I, PART I (NO. 5). 20 
