THE IMPENETRABLE SEA 



they possess unusual agility and strength is shown by the 

 fact that they have been observed to shoot up out of the 

 water and land on ledges of ice more than five feet high. 



The penguins of Tristan da Cunha migrate about 

 April and return in July or August, but where they go 

 remains somewhat of a mystery — it seems incredible that 

 they should remain at sea for such a protracted period. 



The emperor penguin is truly a royal bird, for he 

 normally stands three feet tall and weighs ninety pounds. 

 But there are outsize ones. One captured by Captain 

 Scott's men in 191 1 was four feet tall and weighed 

 seven stone. In the autumn this penguin heads south 

 towards the pole and the coldest weather. The female 

 hatches out the single egg after her arrival, and then 

 father, mother and child head south again, into a less 

 frigid climate. There is much commonsense in this hatch- 

 ing of the chick during the long Arctic night, for only in 

 this way is it possible to rear the infant to the point where 

 it is able to resist the rigours of the following winter. 



The emperor penguin may be one of the most primitive 

 birds. The growth of the embryo within the egg recapitu- 

 lates the history of the species, and this history seems to 

 suggest that the emperor has certain features in common 

 with those of some reptiles. 



Nearly every feature of a penguin caricatures some- 

 thing human : its black back and (usually) immaculate 

 ''white shirt front", which suggest man's evening dress; 

 its sleek flippers which look like the arms of well-pressed 

 but overlong sleeves: its drilling and marching habits, 

 and the way penguins gather together in small groups, as 

 if they were gossiping or discussing the political situation. 



The penguin's resemblance to a human being is height- 

 ened by its ''spectacles" — a white ring around each 

 quizzical "black shoe-button" eye. Penguins walk 

 quickly, despite their characteristic "waddling" — at the 

 rate of about one hundred and twenty steps per minute. 



Of the seventeen known species of the penguin indi- 



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