THE MOULTING OF THE KING PENGUIN. 
131 
In “ B’s” case this year the tail feathers only finished shedding on the 5th day of 
the moult. 
To celebrate the end of this most trying period of the year, “ A ” consumed twenty- 
one whitings on the day after its new coat was acquired, sixteen on the following day, 
and again twenty-one the day after. Since then, however, its appetite has resumed 
a normal size, and it now contents itself with from ten to twelve fish daily. It may 
be mentioned that the adult penguin (“ A”) on 12th April 1916 weighed 31*5 lbs. 
The authors are indebted to the Zoological Society of Scotland for the oppor- 
tunities given them for observing and photographing the King Penguins. 
LIST OF PAPERS AND BOOKS REFERRED TO. 
Bartlett, A. D., “ Remarks upon the Habits and Change of Plumage of Humboldt’s Penguin,” Pro/:. Zool. 
Soe., 1879. 
De Winton, W. E., F.Z.S., “On the Moulting of the King Penguin (Aptenodytes pennanti),” Proc. Zool. 
Soc., 1898. 
Seth-Smith, David, F.Z.S., “On the Moulting of the King Penguin,” Proc. Zool. Soc., 1912. 
Wilson, National Antarctic Expedition, vol. ii, Zoology, 1907. 
Pycraft, National Antarctic Expedition, vol. ii, Zoology, 1907. 
Levick, Murray, Antarctic Penguins. 
Smalley, Annals of Scot. Nat. Hist., 1909. 
Murphy, R. C., “The Penguins of South Georgia,” Science Bulletin, vol. ii, No. 5, The Mus. of Brooklyn 
Inst, of Arts and Sciences, 1915. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.* 
Fig. 1. A King Penguin 2| weeks before moulting actually began. The feathers had lost their lustre, 
were of a rusty brown colour on the back and a pale fawn on the breast ; the throat and auricular patches 
were no longer of an orange or bright yellow tint. 
Fig. 2. A King Penguin the day before moulting started. Compare with fig. 18, a bird in nearly 
normal plumage. Observe that the bird represented in fig. 2 appears to be very much stouter than a normal 
bird. The increase in size is partly due to the feathers about to be shed projecting at nearly right angles 
from the tips of the new feathers about to displace them. 
Fig. 3. First day of moult. In this bird the feathers are in the act of falling off from the lower 
abdomen ; those on the back, though faded, untidy, and somewhat raised, are still intact. The majority of 
the tail feathers are already shed. The feathers of the throat and auricular patches are now of a dirty 
cream colour. 
Figs. 4 and 5. A King Penguin, showing the stage reached on the second day of moulting. The feathers 
are now falling off in sheets from the whole of the abdomen, the last of the tail feathers have dropped out, and 
the small scale-like feathers are beginning to be shed from the under surface of the wings. The back is still 
more faded and ruffled, and the throat and auricular patches are still paler. 
Figs. 6 and 7. A King Penguin, showing the stage reached on the. third day of moult. Nearly the 
* With the exception of fig. 12, all the figures are from photographs by Miss Dorothy Mackenzie. Fig. 12 is 
from a photograph by Mr J. C. MKechnie. 
TRANS. ROY. SOC. EDIN., VOL. LII, PART I (NO. 5). 
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