98 THE FIRST FLUTTEEINGS OF THE WING. 



The shapeless puffin, which seems the very caricature of a caricature, 

 the paroquet, resembles it in its great beak, rudely chipped, but 

 without edge or strength. Tail-less and ill-balanced, it may always 

 be upset by the weight of its large head. It ventures, never- 

 theless, to flutter about, at the hazard of toppling over. It swoops 

 nobly close to the surface of earth, and is, perhaps, the envy of the 

 penguins and the seals. Sometimes it even risks itself at sea — ill- 

 fated ship, which the lightest breeze will wreck ! 



It is, however, impossible to deny that the first flight is taken. 

 Birds of various kinds carry on the enterprise more successfully. The 

 rich genus of divers (Brachypterse), in its species widely different, 

 connects the sailor-birds with the natatores, or sv.^immers: those, with 

 wings perfected, with a bold and secure flight, accomplish the longest 

 voyages ; these, still clothed with the glittering feathers of the penguin, 

 frisk and sport at the bottom of the seas. They want but fins and 

 respiratory organs to become actual fishes. They are alternately 

 mastei-s of both elements, air and water. 



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