CRESTED PENGUIN. 
foot ashore we were greeted with the defiant shrieks of birds, chiefly C. sclateri, 
present in countless thousands. The big-crested Penguin {C. sclateri) occupied 
all the available space on the beach, and for some distance up the slopes also. 
As we ascended we fell in with the smaller tufted Penguins (G. chrysocome), and 
these alone were on the higher cliffs. They were extremely numerous, and 
have long distances to travel to reach the sea. It seems reasonable to suppose 
that they occupy these higher grounds, reached only by long and arduous 
climbing, by force of circumstance rather than by choice, being driven from more 
accessible haunts by the larger G. sclateri. The birds were tending their young, 
the breeding season being over at this period (February). The young birds were 
losing their down, and presented a quaint appearance, some parts being quite 
sleek with feathers, and others fluffy in down. This substance lay thick on the 
ground in the neighbourhood, and was occasionally blown about like thistle down. 
The nests, then out of use, and doubtless trodden out of shape, are like shallow 
craters made of mud, and the whole surroundings plastered with mud and dung. 
In wet weather the mess and stench must be wellnigh intolerable. 
“ The plumes on the side of the head are golden coloured in the adult, 
but pale yellow in the young. They stand out at right angles, and give the bird 
a wild or scared appearance. 
“ The eyes of all Penguins that I have seen are remarkable for the 
smallness of the pupil, scarcely larger than the head of a pin, and it 
did not appear to me that it was capable of dilation ; yet in no drawing 
I have seen of a Penguin is the pupil so relatively small as observed by me. 
“ The note of this bird is much higher pitched than that of G. sclateri, and 
the shriek is quite piercing.” 
Mr. W. Smyth* says this bird, when excited, erects its crest all round, 
like a rainbow. 
The bird figured and described was collected off the New Zealand coast. 
* In Bnller’s Suppl. B.N.Z., I., p. 85 (1905). 
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