1218 THE STORY OF BIRD-LIFE. 



made out. The young of the sand-grouse' are 

 like little animated balls of fluff; those of the 

 pigeon are hatched blind and naked, and are at 

 most covered only with a few straggling hair-like 

 filaments, but this is a point of some significance, 

 and shows the pigeon to be the more recently 

 developed of the two. 



The tracing of these pedigrees has brought us 

 out amongst forms of comparatively recent de- 

 velopment — as pedigree times go. We have 

 now to turn back again into the misty past, and 

 start afresh with forms undoubtedly ancient, but 

 whose records for the time are hidden. 



The most aberrant, or outlying group amongst 

 these, is undoubtedly that of the penguins. The 

 most remarkable feature of these birds — and it 

 is remarkable — is the wing. This you will re- 

 member we discussed on p. 82. The penguins 

 play the part of the divers of the southern 

 hemisphere — strangely enough, they are confined 

 to this region never having passed the equator. 



Very near the penguins stand the petrels and 

 the divers, which probably originated from some 

 stork-like ancestor, since they possess many char- 

 acters in common apparently only traceable to 

 such a source. 



The petrels, or at least many of them, are 

 claimed to be amongst British birds. Such are 

 the Mother Carey's chicken, Leach's petrel, and 

 the Manx shear- water which breeds upon lonely 

 St Kilda, and elsewhere along our shores. The 

 albatross has been found in Britain, too, but only 

 in a fossil state. The petrels contain one strange 

 diving-form, called the diving-petrel; in which 



