KING PENGUIN. 
Mr, G. Bennett* gives the following account of this bird on Macquarie 
Island. After speaking of the great numbers of birds on the island, he says : 
“ They are arranged, when on shore, in as compact a manner and in as regular 
ranks as a regiment of soldiers ; and are classed with the greatest order, the 
young birds being in one situation, the moulting birds in another, the sitting 
hens in a third, the clean birds in a fourth, etc., and so strictly do birds in similar 
condition congregate, that should a bird that is moulting intrude itself 
amongst those which are clean, it is immediately ejected from among them. 
“ The females hatch the eggs by keeping them close between their thighs ; 
and if approached during the time of incubation, move away carrying the eggs 
with them. At this time the male bird goes to sea and collects food for the 
female, which becomes very fat. After the young is hatched, both parents go 
to sea, and bring home food for it ; it soon becomes so fat as scarcely to be able 
to walk, the old birds getting very thin. They sit quite upright in their 
roosting places, and walk in the erect position until they arrive at the beach, 
when they throw themselves on their breasts, in order to encounter the very 
heavy sea met with at their landing-place.” 
Mr. A. Hamilton,| also from Macquarie Island, says : “ We had to amuse 
ourselves by watching the thousands of King Penguins (Aptenodytes) sporting 
around us, sometimes chasing each other in strings, like porpoises, at other 
times rushing by in a compact body, seemingly moving in concert, diving, and 
bobbing up and down, lying on their backs in a most comical way, and making 
every now and then a curious ‘ quank,’ which at a certain distance and at 
certain times seems like a human cry. They manifested great curiosity, or else 
took the ship for a new kind of rock, as they were constantly pecking at the 
sides, and apparently trying to scramble on board. They were very quick in 
their movements, easily avoiding anything thrown at them by a sudden dive, 
reappearing the next instant. We could not see that they caught anything in 
the way of food, but they seemed to come off in large parties from the shore 
and swim round the ship, playing and springing clean out of the water, and 
after a little time returning to the shore, landing on the crest of a wave, and 
scrambling up the stony beach in a most comical way.” ^ 
Again, on p. 570 : “ The interest and the novelty of the sight of 30 or 40 
acres of Penguins made up for the deafening noise and the fearful smell, and we 
found that if we stood still the birds did not take the trouble to move or bite. 
Some of the birds were fighting with their neighbours, standing still, either in 
a puddle, or on a wet slimy stone, but keeping their wings and biU in constant 
action, their apparent object being to make everybody keep his regulation 
* P.Z.S., p. 34 (1834). 
t Trans. N. Zeal. Inst., XXVIL, p. 562 (1894). 
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