2OO 



REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



What is most singular is that the Albatross, a bird essentially 

 aerial and adapted for flight, associates at this period with these 

 extraordinary birds, the Penguins, so that the nest of an Albatross 

 may be seen next the nest of a Penguin, and the whole colony, so 

 differently constituted, appear to live on the best terms of intimacy. 

 Each keeps to its own nest, and if by chance there is a complaint, 

 it is t'lat some Penguin has robbed the nest of his neighbour, the 

 Albatross. 



Other sea-birds come to partake of the hospitality of the little 



Fig- 79- King Penguin. 



republic. With the permission of the masters of the coterie they 

 build their nests in the vacancies that occur in the squares. 



The female Penguin lays but one egg, which she only leaves for a 

 few instants until hatched, the male taking her place while she seeks 

 her food. The Penguins are so numerous in the Antarctic seas, that 

 100,000 eggs have been collected by the crew of one vessel. 



The King Penguin (A. Pennantu, Fig. 79) has been described by 

 most French naturalists as a distinct species. Of this there is little 

 doubt. They abound in the southern seas. Their short, stunted 

 wings, which quite incapacitate them from flying, are reduced to a 

 flat and very short stump, totally destitute of feathers, being covered 



