162 THE INHABITANTS OF THE Ska. 
wing and aptitude for swimming and diving are still more con- 
spicuous than in the auks of the 
northern regions. In the water, the 
penguin makes use of its small 
featherless wing-stumps as paddles ; 
on land, as fore feet, with whose 
SEUSS SEIN help it scales so rapidly the grass- 
grown cliffs, as to be easily mistaken for a quadruped. When 
at sea, and fishing, it comes to the surface for the purpose of 
breathing, with such a spring, and dives again so instantaneously, 
that at first sight no one can be sure that it is not a fish leaping 
for sport. Other sea-birds generally keep part of their body out 
of the water while swimming; but this is not the case with the 
penguin, whose head alone appears upon the surface; and thus 
it swims with such rapidity and perseverance, as almost to defy 
many of the fishes to equal it. How much it feels itself at 
home on the waters, may be inferred from the fact that Sir 
James Ross once saw two penguins paddling away a thousand 
miles from the nearest land. 
On many uninhabited islands in the 
higher latitudes of the southern hemi- 
sphere, this strange bird is met with in 
incredible numbers. On _ Possession 
Island, for instance, a desolate rock dis- 
covered by Sir James Ross in lat.71° 56’, 
not the smallest appearance of vegeta- 
tion could be found; but inconceivable 
myriads of penguins completely and 
densely covered the whole surface of 
the island, along the ledges of the pre- 
cipices, and even to the summits of the 
hills, attacking vigorously the sailors as they waded through 
their ranks, and pecking at them with their sharp beaks, dis- 
puting possession, which, together with their loud coarse notes, 
and the insupportable stench from the deep bed of guano which 
had been forming for ages, made them glad to get away again. 
Sir James took possession of the island in the name of Queen 
Victoria; but unfortunately its treasures of manure are hidden 
beyond a far too formidable barrier of ice ever to be available 
to man. 
Penguin. 
a 
