resorts are the Ichaboe, Mercury, Hollanis-bird, and Possession
Islands. From the latter end of March to late in May these
Penguins go to sea in a body, and may then be seen forty or fifty
miles away from land.
General colour, bluish-grey j below white; a band, the colour of
the back, extends from the front of each thigh, up the flanks and
sides, passes in front of the root of the wings, and forms an arch at
the base of the neck; a patch of the same colour includes the eye,
ear, chin, and a portion of the side of the neck. Length, 26';
wing, 7" 3"' j tail, 1".
Fig. Temm. PI. Gol. 382.
770. E u d y p t e s CHRYSOiiOPHUS, Brandt. Macaroni Penguin.
The late M. Jules Verreaux assured us that in the year 1828 or
1829 he found vast numbers of a Penguin dead on the rocks at
Cape Point. One was brought to us nearly dead in 1868 which had
been captured in Table Bay. He gave us the name of the Penguin
observed by him E. chrysochome, but we believe that the species
which he records was in all probability the present bird.
Fig. Sclater, Eep. Yoy. “ Challenger,” II, ph 29.
ORDER RATTLE.
Fam. STRUTHIONIDiE.
771. S t r u t h io a u s t r a l is , Gurney. Southern Ostrich.
I t is beyond the limits of the present work to enter largely into
the natural history of the Ostriches, since that bird has been so
freely domesticated in Southern Africa. The subject is fully treated
by Messrs. Harting and Mosenthal in their interesting work on
“ Ostriches and Ostrich-farming,” to which the latter has contributed
an excellent account of the domestication of the bird. Since
then another practical work on the subject has been published by
Mr. J. W. Douglas. We would, however, remind our readers that
the range of the wild Ostriches in South Africa is still a subject of
much interest, and that the question of the number of species in
the northern regions of South Africa still remains unsettled. Mr.
Andersson was certain that at least two kinds occurred in Damara
Land, and the British Museum would be glad to acquire a series of
specimens illustrating the changes of plumage in these two species.
The Ostrich is still found in most of the Karroo country, within
the borders of the colony. I t usually runs in small families of from
three to six individuals, except, of course, in the breeding season,
when a hen and her whole clutch of chickens may be seen together.
The hen lays a large number of eggs in her nest (thirty-six have
been found in one),’while many more are dropped in the neighbourhood.
The farmers affirm that these latter are broken when the
young are excluded, and serve for their first meals. They also
a ffirm that more than one female lays in a nest, which is always on
a sandy patch, and that they incubate by turns. The eggs measure.
axis, 6"; diameter, 4" 9'" or 5".
The South African Ostrich is now recognized as distinct from the
North African bird, to which the name of 8. camelus was originally
given. The egg of the former may at once be distinguished by
its finer texture.