BIRDS OF THE AUSTRALASIAN SOUTH POLAR QUADRANT. 
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Adult female. Similar to the adult male, but the colour on the base of the lower mandible not 
so pronounced. 
Immature. The general appearance of the upper-surface is lighter; the patch of orange in the 
adult is of a pale lemon-colour; the crown is distinct from the rest of the black head 
as a diamond-shaped patch of pearly bluish-grey. The upper mandible and tip of lower 
black ; lower bluish-black shading into a bright-red tinge at the base. Eyes brown, with 
darker radial streaks, feet and claws black. 
Young covered in brownish down. The upper mandible purplish-black; lower purplish-black 
wdth a patch half an inch long of pale whitish horn-colour on each side, about the 
middle of its length ; eyes grey wdth a brown tint, streaked radially with darker brown; 
eyeh'ds and skin around the eyes dusky-purple; feet and claws black. 
Nest. None made, the egg being placed on the bare ground, and incubated in the loose fold 
of abdominal skin, where the egg is held in position by the feet. 
Egg. Clutch one ; ground-colour pale greenish-white, covered wholly or in part with a thin 
calcareous matter; tapering suddenly from the diameter to the tip. 96-106 mm. 
by 71-78 mm. 
Breeding-season. November (Macquarie Island). 
Although I described and worked up this bird in the first volume of my Birds 
of Australia I did not figure it. I have now done so, and from Wilson’s 
account of its habits I have taken the following. 
Macquarie Island lies about 600 miles S.W. of New Zealand, and we 
made our landing on the east side, anchoring in Fisherman’s Cove. The 
shore is belted by a thick fringe of kelp, and the eastern slopes of the island 
are covered with a coarse tussock grass, which grows breast high. Between 
the foot of the hills at this point and the seashore is an extensive beach 
and a stretch of stony quagmire, with patches of tussock here and there, and 
it was in this quagmire that the King Penguin rookery was situated. 
On November 22nd, 1901, there was in the King Penguin’s rookery a large 
number of birds busily incubating eggs. These, as is well known, they hold 
upon their feet, tucked in between the legs and covered from sight by a 
loose fold of skin and feathers, and so tightly were they held that although 
we lifted the birds bodily from the ground, yet the egg was very seldom dropped. 
The object of thus holding the egg is to keep it from the wet and muddy 
quagmire in which the birds prefer to incubate; a parallel case to the 
Emperor Penguin, where the object is to keep the egg from contact with 
the ice. 
During the incubation the egg is simply held wedged in between the legs, 
resting upon the upper surface of the feet. There is no pouch. 
The rookery w r as filthy, neither more nor less, and the whole area smelt 
abominably. They are large birds, and hundreds are huddled together in 
close companies, living and breeding on an area of mud, stones and water at 
the foot of the overhanging hills. The breeding birds avoid the tussock 
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