154 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
The penguin, like his northern representative the auk, lays 
but one single egg. His not unsavoury flesh is black. Besides 
his dense plumage, he is protected against the cold of the 
higher latitudes by a thick cover of fat under his skin. 
Humboldt’s penguin (Spheniscus Humb.) is frequently found 
in the Bay of Callao. This bird is a little smaller than the 
common grey penguin, with a somewhat differently coloured 
back and breast. The Peruvians call it pajaro nino, “ little 
darling bird,” and keep it in their houses; it is very easily 
tamed, gets very familiar, and follows its master like a dog. 
The sight of the fat creature, awkwardly waddling about the 
streets on its short feet, and violently agitating its wing-stumps 
to maintain its equilibrium, is inexpressibly grotesque. Tschudi 
kept one of these tame penguins, which punctually obeyed his 
call. At dinner it regularly stood like a stiff footman behind 
his chair, and at night slept under his bed. When “ Pepe” 
wanted a bath, he went into the kitchen and kept striking with 
his beak against an earthen jar, until some one came to pour 
water over him. 
To the pelican tribe, which is generally distinguished by a 
surface of naked skin about the 
throat, capable of considerable di- 
latation, and serving as a pouch for 
the reception of unswallowed food, 
belong among others the Cormo- 
rant (Phalacrocoraz), the Frigate- 
Bird (Tachypetes aquila), and the 
Gannet (Sula bassana),-or Solan 
2.3 = goose. All these birds are of much 
ee ee more active habits than the last 
named family, with bodies of more 
shapely form, more ample wings, and a stronger flight. 
The common cormorant with his long bill, bent at the point, 
and furnished with a nail, his black livery, and yellowish chin- 
pouch, is a most disagreeable comrade. His smell, when alive, is 
more rank and offensive than ‘that of any other bird, and his 
flesh is so disgusting, that it turns the stomach even of an 
Esquimaux In spite of his voracity, he always remains thin 
and meagre, the picture of a hungry parasite. But fishing he 
understands remarkably well, and formerly used to be trained 
