EUDYPTES CHRYSOCOME.
Crested Penguin.
Aptenodytes chrysocome, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 878.—Gmel. Edit, of Linn. N a t. Hist., vol. i. p. 555.—Turton’s
Edit., vol. i. p. 339.-—Forst. Comm. Gcetting., tom. üi. ,p. 135.—lb . Icon, inédit,, t. 80.
Spheniscus, Temm. Man. d’Orn. 2nd edit., tom. i. p . cxiii.
Pinguinaria crist at a, Na t. Misc., pi. 437.
Manchot huppé, Buff. PI. Enl., 984.
-—-----■ Sautewr, Buff. Hist, des Ois., tom. ix. p. 409. .
Crested Pinguin, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. vi. p. 561.—Cook’s la s t Voy., vol. i. p. 82 ?—Staunt. China, vol. i. p. 222.
-—Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. x.,p. 385.
Eudyptes chrysolopha, Brandt.
------------demersus, List of B irds in Brit. Mus., p a r t iii. p. 155.
F o b a fine example of this singular Penguin I am indebted to my friend Ronald C. Gunn, Esq., of
Launceston, Van Diemen’s Land, who informed me that it had been washed on shore on the northern coast
of that island after a heavy gale. It is less plentiful in that part of the world than in many others, for
although it is occasionally found on the shores of Van Diemen’s Land and the south coast of Australia, its
great strongholds are the islands of Amsterdam, St. Paul’s, and Tristan d’Acunha. As I had no opportunity
of seeing the bird in a state of nature, I cannot perhaps do better than transcribe the account given by
Latham, who states that “ it is called Hopping Penguin and Jumping Jack, from its habit o f leaping quite out
o f the water on meeting with the least obstacle, which indeed it does frequently without any apparent cause,
seeming chiefly to make progress by that means; it is somewhat more lively than the other species of the
genus, but still is so stupid as to admit of being knocked down with a stick, when on land, and is frequently
so regardless as to suffer itself to be taken with the hand. Forster mentions that it is difficult to kill, and
when provoked ran at the sailors in flocks, pecked their legs and spoiled their clothes; when enraged, the
crest is erected in a beautiful manner. The female is said to lay one or two white eggs on the bare
earth in a burrow, which it forms by throwing up the dirt with its feet. They are generally deposited in
October, but occasionally as late as December and January. It is found in vast abundance on the island
of Amsterdam, where it may often be seen basking and standing erect on the rocks, in company with the
seals. It is also to be found in countless multitudes on the island of Tristan d’Acunha, concealed among the
long grass and in the bottoms of those ravines opening on the sea-shore, and uttering a moaning noise
which can be heard at a great distance.”
Head, neck, back and sides black; over each eye a stripe of pale yellow feathers, which are lengthened
into a crest behind; wings black externally, their posterior edge and under surface white; breast and
under surface silvery white ; bill reddish brown ; feet greyish white.
The female is said to differ in having the yellow feathers over the eye shorter, or not prolonged into a
crest.
The figures are nearly the size of life.