[Central 
Case. 
[ Table- 
case. | 
_ 
42 BIRD GALLERY. 
for a more sober garb, becoming entirely white underneath. <A 
comparison of the maps showing the distribution of the Grebes and 
Divers clearly indicates how the latter take the place of the former in 
the more northern regions. 
Order VIII. SPHENISCIFORMES. 
Family Seneniscrp”. Peneuins. (Plate III.) 
Penguins may fairly be considered to hold the same place among the 
Birds that the Seals do among the Mammalia. At the present time they 
are represented by comparatively few species, though they probably 
played a more important part in prehistoric times. They date back at 
least to the Upper Eocene, in which the gigantic New Zealand Penguin, 
standing over six feet high, was discovered. Their wings are modified 
into swimming-paddles covered with narrow scale-like feathers. Their 
legs are included in the skin of the body, and their large clumsy feet 
placed so far back as to render their locomotion on land a somewhat 
difficult operation. Their home is the sea, and when diving they propel 
themselves solely by means of their wings, which they use alternately, 
while their legs are used as a rudder. They breed on the desolate rocks 
and islands in the Southern Ocean, where they are not often disturbed 
by man, and extend up to the equator (Galipagos) in the Pacific. 
All the known species, seventeen in number, may be grouped into 
six genera. The best known are the large King-Penguins (Aplenodytes 
patagonica) (850) [Figs. e & f|, which generally stand with their head 
and neck stretched out vertically and the tip of their beak pointed almost 
directly upwards. When pursued on shore they can move with con- 
siderable speed, and lying down flat on the belly, work both their legs 
and wings wildly to assist them in their frantic efforts to escape. Still 
larger birds are the Emperor-Penguins (4. forsteri) (851) from the 
Antarctic continent. Both these and the King-Penguin have a remark- 
able method of incubating, which is shared by male and female alike. 
The large single egg is placed on the feet and pressed closely to a bare 
patch in the lower abdomen, being kept in place by a peculiar flap 
of thickly feathered skin. When the bird leaves the egg for feeding 
purposes, it is immediately taken possession of by some other Penguin, 
The Jackass-Penguins (Spheniscus) have received their name from their 
ery, which resembles the braying of a donkey. The nest of S. mage/- 
lanicus (840) is a rudely constructed pile of grass-roots and other 
materials. The Rock-hoppers (Catarrhactes (843-345) [| Figs. a & c| 
and Meyadyptes (846) { Fig. /]), with shorter bills, derive their name 
from their curious mode of hoppmg from rock to rock with both feet 
placed together. ‘The smallest of all are the species of Hudyptula (852, 
$52 a) [ Fig. 4), which inhabit the coasts of South Australia and New 
Zealand. 
