OCR Text |
Show 82 SIR W. L. BCLLER ON A NEW PENGUIN. [Feb. 19, Length of attachment Length of of 2nd pectoral along carina sterni. the carina. Cathartes aura 82 72 Serpentarius reptilivorus .... 115 40 Gypohierax angolensis 84 34 Polyboroides typicus 56 24 The structure of the syrinx is not clearly indicative of the affinities of Polyboroides, but I propose to defer for the present the description of this organ in the Accipitres. The conclusion to which these facts lead is that Polyboroides is not even an aberrant type of the Falconidse ; its muscular anatomy lends no support to the view that it should be regarded as the representative of a special subfamily. 7. O n a Species of Crested Penguin (Eudyptes sclateri) from the Auckland Islands. By Sir W A L T E R B U L L E R, K.C.M.G., F.R.S., C.M.Z.S. [Received February 19, 1889.] (Plate IX.) A recent study of the various species of Eudyptes inhabiting New Zealand and the neighbouring islands has satisfied me that three very distinct species ofCrested Penguin have been hitherto confounded by ornithologists under the name of Eudyptes chrysocome. I have endeavoured to make this clear in the concluding part of m y 'Birds of N e w Zealand ' (2nd ed. pp. 287-293) ; but I gladly avail myself of the Secretary's invitation to exhibit specimens this evening and to offer a few observations on the subject. The common New-Zealand bird, hitherto treated by most authors as being identical with Eudyptes chrysocome of the Falkland Islands, is undoubtedly a different species, and I have accordingly restored to it M r . Gray's name of pachyrhgnchus. It is distinguishable from the latter by its thicker bill and by the character of its lateral crests, which are merely an extension of the golden superciliary streak, seldom reaching more than an inch beyond the crown, and never more than two inches. Eudyptes chrysocome, on the other hand, exhibits on each side of the head an abundant crest of drooping plumes, from three to five inches in length, besides presenting other minor differences. Eudyptes filholi, Hutton, from Campbell Island, does not appear to be separable from E. saltator, Stephens, and this again (as already pointed out by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin) is certainly referable to the true Eudyptes chrysocome, Forster, although Mr. Sharpe, in his Zoology of Kerguelen Island (Phil. Trans. R. S. vol. 168. p. 158), has kept the two latter forms distinct. |