THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 47

THE NATURALIST.

THE ElffG PJSNftUINS AT THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS^ It would be difficult to conceive a oouple of nestling birds more intereating to the ornithologist than the two^oung king penguins now in the Zoological Gardens. The whole family of penguins, of which there are several genera and species, is amongst the most remarkable of living birds, being possibly more widely differentiated from the usual type than any other forms. la habits they are the most aqaatic, or, it might be said, subaquatic, of all birds. The power of flight, the usual means of progression in the class to which they belong, is enbirely absent. On land their progress ia slow and awkward to an extreme degree. In tho water, on the other hand, their speed surpasses that of the majority of fishes, the smaller of which they capture for their food. They are in safety during the heaviest gales, and "their movements are so rapid that they can hardly be distinguished from fish. Beyond the extreme rapiaity of their progress, of their habits in ' the water we know little or nothing. Darwin, describing one species, the Sphenlscus demersub, sayß :

When at sea and fishing it comes to the surface for the purpose of breathing with »uch a spring and dives again to instantaneously that I defy any at first sight to be cure that it is not a fish leaping for sport.

On land, the l»te Mr G-aorge Bennett described a colony of one species as existing at Mrtcquarie Island, and covering an extent of 30 to 40 acres, many thousand birds passing constantly to and from the sea. When on land, he states :

They are arranged when on shore in as compact and in ai regular ranks as a regiment of soldiers. The females hatch the eggs by keeping them between their thighs, arid it approached during the time of incubation move away, carryiDg the eggs with th>»m. At this time the male goes to sea and collects food for the female, which becomes vary fat. After tho young is hatched buth parents go to sea and bring home food for it, and it soon beoomes ao fat as to b? scarcely able to walk, the old birds getting very thin. They sit upright on their roosting places, and walk in the crest position until they arrive at the beach, when they throw themselves on their breasts to encounter the heavy seas meS with at the landing plaoe.

In tho account of the exploring expedition of H M.S. Beagle, of which Mr Darwin was the naturalist, Admiral Fitzroy describes ! -their vests in the thiok rushy tusaock grass, ! and says :

They were very valiant in self-defence, and ran open-mouthed by dozens at anyone who invaded their territory, little knowing bow soon a stick would scatter them on the ground. The young were good eating, bub the old were dark »nd tough when cocked. Tbe manner in which they feed their young is curious acd amusing. The old bird gets on a little eminence and makes a great noise between braying and qaacking, holding its head up in the air as if it were haianguing the penguinery, while the joungone stands close to it, bat a little lower. The old bird, having continued its clatter for r.bout a minute, puts its head down and opens its mouth widely, into which the young one thrusts its beak and then appears to suck from the throat of its mother for a minute or two, after which the olatter is repeated and the young one again feeds, and this continues for about 10 minutes.

The latest accounts that we have of the penguins in their natural habitat, and possibly the most interesting, are those given in Mr Moseley's "Notes of a Naturalist," made during the exploriog voyage of the Challenger from 1872 to 1876. He not only describes the habita of the king penguin, the young of whioh are now in the gardens, bat aleo of other species, such, as the gentoo penguin, Pygoeceles tceniata. The nesting-plaoe or rookery of tbe king penguin was described by Mr Moseley as being on a piece of perfectly flat ground about SOyde square. The surface was of a filthy black shiny character, covered with per gains standing bolt upright, so thick as almost to jostle one another. The adult birds are as high as a man's waist, and are distinguished from the other penguins by the bright, almost golden, yellow colour of the plumage on the side of tbe neck and throat Each hen bird hatches its single egg by standing upright on it with the body bulged out a little in front and the feet close together. If forced to move, she hops or leaps in an awkward manner, oarrying tbe egg on the broad webbed feet between the legs and the body. If provoked very mnch she drops the egg and at once assumes the running motion. There is absolutely no neat made, the egg resting on the web of the feet. It is probable that tbe brooding birds do Dot leave tbe egg, but are fed by the males to which they are paired. Mr Moseley describes the young as follows : —

There was a drove of about a hundred penguins, with youDg birds amongst them. The young were most absurd objects. They were as tall as their parents, and moved about bolt upright with their beaks in the air in the same manner; but they were covered with a thick coating of a light chocolate down, loakirg like very fine brown fur.

The down is at least 2in deep on the birds' bodies, and gives them a curiom inflated appearance. They have a most C3mical look as they run eff to jostle their way in amongst the old ones. They seemed to run rather better than the adults, but perhaps that was fancy. '

Absurd iv appearance t»s these young are, those that are just dropping the down and assuming the white plumage of the adults are far more so. Some are to be seen with the brown down in large irregular patches, and the white feathers showing out between these. In others the down remains only about the neck add head, and in the last Btege a sort of ruff or collar of brown temaics sticking cufc round the bird's neck, and then, when it cocks up its head, it looks like a small boy in stick-up collars. The manner in which these young ones cock up their head's gives them a peculiar expression of vanity, and as they ran off on their short stumpy legs 1 could not resist laughing outright.

The structure of these birds is remarkably modified in accordance with their habits. They have all short fin- like wings covered with very hard, ecale-like feathers. The tarsi, which in birds are usually long, and form what is ordinarily called the leg, are exceedingly short La all the penguins, go that the heel really rests on the ground, and they may be described as plantigrade. Tfie skeleton of these birds is most peculiar, the bonesbeiDg filled with an oily marrow instead of air, as In birds in general. All the air cells surrounding the different viecera ace

exceedingly rudimentary. The bones of the fore limbs are thin and fiat, so as to oonsfcitute the paddles with which the bird propels itself rapidly through the water.

The feathers are very peculiar. Little more than the mere shaft is developed, and this is so flattened, especially on the paddles, as to form a series of overlapping scales much more closely resembling the covering of a fish than that of a bird. The feathers on the body are bent in tbe middle of their length nearly at right aDgles, so that although the basal portion rises erect from the skin, the terminal ends overlap bo as to form a close layer impervious to water. This arrangement, however, is not peculiar to the pengains, but maybe found iv almost all aquatic birds, the breast feathers of the common duck furnishing a good example. The featbera of fche tail are vary peculiar, being stiff and spiny, so as to support the body and form with the two lega tbe tripod on which the animal stands when in tbe erect position. Tbe moulting of the eoale-like feathers of the body and the wings is performed in a very peculiar manner. The bird comes to land for a few days and sheds its feathers in -large masses, the new feathers having been formed underneath the^old ones, -so that the bird, according to tbe observation of Mr Bartlett, is entirely covered with its new plumage before the old ene drops off ; and it completely changes its dress and I appearanoe in less than ten days. Tbis was remarkably evidenced in an example of j Hamboldt's penguin, whioh was in the gardons in 1879. The late Mr T. W. Wood drew a figure of the bird before moulting to illustrate an. 'artiole of mine in the Field. ! The bird then moulted, as described by Mr Bartlett, and appeared in a dress of a totally new pattern, with a broad band of black within the margin of the white feathers of the breast. This change was so remarkable that Mr Wood was requested to draw another figure of the bird in its adult plumage, and both were published togethor in the '• Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1879."

Another remarkable peculiarity in the structure of the penguins is the absence of the oil gland, or uropygium. ' It is strange that this gland, whioh is generally so very large in other water birds, should be absent in the most aquatic of all, The explanation most probably is that the scale-like plumage of the penguin does not require oiling' to' prevent the entranoe of watar, like the softer plumage of ducks and other speoies. As in all diving birds, the internal veins (veaie cavse) of the penguin are immense in size, and serve as reservoirs for the impure venous blood until the return of tbe animal to tbe surface enables it to be purified by breathing.

The two young specimens now in the gardens afford a remarkable opportunity of contrasting these birds in tbe down with- their adult condition. The down with whioh they are covered is exceedingly long and looie in texture, resembling picked oakum rather than the ordinary covering of a bird. It is'ao loose that it is obvious the youcg birds could not possibly enter the water while they are covered with this garment, as it would be immediately saturated with moisture. They mu3t remain on land and be fed by the parents until suob time as they bave assumed the adult plumage. The two birds represented differ slightly from one another, and are possibly male and female. They have, at present, not the slightest idea of feeding themselvea, and the fish— chiefly whiting, carefully eviscerated to avoid the possibility of their swallowing a fish hook— are held up to them and taken from the hand.

Their attitudes when moving and resting .are peculiar. When at rest they repose on the tail and on the heels or upper part of the tarsi, the toes being raised from the ground. When walking forward tbe wing* are thrown behind, as if to balance tbe body. From whatever position- they are viewed their aspect is/ most peculiar. The down itself is of an extraordinary character. Microscopically examined, it is found that there is no true shaft to the down, bat that the barbs, about 25 to 30 in number, are attached to a simple quill forming the stock, and that each barb bears along its sides extremely fine barbule?, which are invisible to the naked eye; these are flattened aud slightly twisted. When the down is in its natural position on the bird, these barbs and barbules must necessarily form a structure bo finely interlaced as to entangle the air and prevent to an extraordinary degree the escape of heat from the body. The barb* alone, it might have been thought, would bave that effect, but the small invisible barbules must produce an extraordinarily warm covering. There 1b no doubt that the whole of this down will be shed at once when the growth of new feathers underneath is complete. This will probably bo a very trying time for tho young birds. Mr Bartlett, in noticing tbe change of the mature plumage in Humboldc's penguin, observed that the production of the new feathers was a great call upon the powers of the bird, which became dull, and refrained from feeding or going into the water for some days. I have a drawing of a young penguin which lived a short time in tbe gardens of the society some 15 years ago, in whfch the down is represented as being moulted off in large fldkes ; but this speoimen unfortunately did not survive tbe change. It- is to be sincerely hoped that the two now in the gardens may pass through this critical psriou with safety, as if they assume mature plumage and are able to fish for themselves, tbe two king penguins will be a very attractive addition to the gardens.

Mr Bartlett informs me that the birds were received from Macquarie Island, which is situated south of New Zealand, and that the same species breeds on the Falkland Islands. The closely allied species, the Emperor penguin (Aptenodvtea fosteri), was found in thousands by Captain Ross on landing on Possession Island, South Victoria Land. — W. B. Tegbtmeieb, in the Field.

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