THE FISHMEN 



when on land. The penguins of the southern hemisphere 

 differ from all other members of their class in two im- 

 portant features : the wings, in which the quills are rudi- 

 mentary, are transformed into paddles; and the short 

 metatarsus (the group of five long bones of the foot lying 

 between the tarsus and the toes) is of great width, with 

 its three longitudinal elements fused together. The young 

 are quite helpless when born and are tended with remark- 

 able care by the mothers. 



They exist in enormous numbers in the Antarctic seas 

 and on the South African and American coasts, being 

 found in large communities at Tierra del Fuego and on 

 the Pacific Islands ; also in Australia and New Zealand. 

 They are gregarious creatures and have the habit of 

 standing in long, regular lines, resembling files of soldiers 

 on parade. The female Adehe incubates the eggs, which 

 she protects by holding them between her thighs. She 

 carries the eggs in the same peculiar fashion when dis- 

 turbed or alarmed. The father penguin supplies both 

 mother and baby with food during the period of incuba- 

 tion, and both parents feed the young when hatched. 



The nests are formed in the hollows of rocks, and the 

 eggs are deposited on the thick layer of excrement which 

 — accumulating over long periods — constitutes some of 

 the valuable guano of commerce. 



Despite its waddhng gait, which might suggest that it 

 is a clumsy animal, the penguin is the most expert 

 swimmer of all birds. Everything in its structure con- 

 tributes to this: its ''cutwater" beak; its close-fitting 

 feathers, which might almost be called scales ; its power- 

 ful flippers, which can move independently ; its tail and 

 legs which can act together both as rudder and brake ; 

 and its streamlined body. 



Penguins can attain twelve miles an hour easily, and 

 can reach eighteen when pursuing a fast fish. Murphy, 

 in his Oceanic Birds gives the speed of the gentoo penguin 

 when going "all out" as twenty- two miles an hour. That 



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