PALMIPEDES. 407 



beneath; a white line on the wing and one or two on the bill. 

 The throat of the male is black, and there is a white line reach- 

 ing from the eye to the bill. Its size is that of a duck. 



Mca impennis, L.j Le Grand Pingouin, Buff. IX, xxix; Enl. 

 367. (The Great Auk.) Nearly as large as a Goose, the colours 

 very similar to those of the preceding species; but the bill is 

 entirely black and marked with eight or ten grooves, and there 

 is a white oval spot between the bill and the eye: its wings are 

 shorter in proportion than those of any other species of this 

 genus. It is said to lay but one large egg, spotted with purple. 



Aptenodytes, Forst. 



The Penguins are even less capable of flying than the Auks. Their 

 little wings are covered with mere vestiges of feathers, which at the 

 first glance resemble scales; their feet, placed farther behind than 

 those of any other bird, only support them by bearing on the tarsus, 

 which is widened like the sole of the foot of a quadruped, and in 

 which are found three bones soldered together at their extremities. 

 They have a small thumb directed inwards, and their three anterior 

 toes are united by an entire membrane. They are only found in 

 the Antarctic Seas, never going on shore except to breed. They 

 can only reach their nests by drawing themselves along on their 

 bellies. The difference in their bill authorizes their division into 

 three subgenera. 



Aptenodttes, Cuv. 



A long, slender, and pointed bill; the upper mandible a little 

 arcuated near the end; covered with feathers to one-third of its 

 length where the nostril is placed, from which a groove extends to 

 the point. 



pt. patagonica, Gm.; Le Grand Manchot, Enl. 975. (The 

 Great Penguin.) Is the size of a Goose, slate-coloured above, 

 white beneath; a black mask surrounded with a lemon-coloured 

 cravatte. Found in large troops near the straits of Magellan, 

 and as far as New Guinea. The flesh, though black, is eatable. 



Catarrhactes, Briss. 



The Gorfus(l) have the bill stout, but little compressed, pointed, 

 rounded on the back, and its point somewhat arcuated; the groove 



(1) Gorfu, a corruption of goir ftigel, the name of the Great Auk in the Feroe 

 Islands. See Clusius, Exot, 367. CaterrAades is the Greek name of a very dif- 

 ferent bird, which could fly well, and precipitated itself from a height on its prey. 

 It was most probably a species of Gull. 



