PELECANID.E. 



PENGUINS. 



!M 



half long; feet webbed, all the four toes united by tho membrane, 

 which it of uncommon brMdth; exterior toe, the longest, 3 inch*. ; 

 daws born-colour, strong and crooked, inner id of the middle one 

 pectinated ; left tad feet yellow. All the plumage very itiff and 

 latfe;tiut o? the neck and breast thick, soft, and shining. Length 

 fret } inches. 



Female. Differ* in baring the neck before of a roan colour or iron- 

 gray, the brent the aame, but lighter and tinged with pale chestnut ; 

 belly a* in the male where the iron gray joins the black on the belly, 

 there is a narrow band of chestnut ; upper bead and back of the neck 

 dark sooty-brown streaked with blackish ; cheeks and chin pale yellow- 

 ochre ; in every other respect the same as the male, except in having 

 only a few alight tufts of hair along the side of the neck ; tail 1 2 inches 

 long to it* insertion, generally spread out like a fan, and crimped, like 

 the other, on the two outer vanes of the two middle feathers only. 

 Length 3 feet 6 inches, (Wilson.) 



" Here is in this rirer (St. Juan, East Florida) and in the waters all 

 over Florida," says Bartram, speaking of this species, " a very curious 

 and handsome bird ; the people call them snake-birds ; I think I have 

 seen paintings of them on the Chinese screens and other Indian 

 picture* ; they seem to be a species of Colymbus, but far more beau- 

 tiful and delicately formed than any other that I have ever seen. 

 They delight to sit, in little peaceful communities, on the dry limbs 

 of trees banging over the still waters, with their wings and tails 

 expanded, I suppose to cool and air themselves, when at the same 

 time they behold their image* in the watery mirror. At such times, 

 when we approach them, they drop off the limbs into the water as if 

 dead, and for a minute or two are not to be seen ; when on a sudden, 

 at a great distance, their long slender head and neck appear, like a 

 snake rising erect put of the water ; and no other part of them is to 

 be wen when swimming, except sometimes the tip end of their tail. 

 In the beat of the day they are seen in great numbers, sailing very 

 high in the air over lakes and rivers. They inhabit the waters of Cape 

 Fear River, and, southerly, East and West Florida." 



Mr. Abbot, of Georgia, who agrees with Wilson in opinion that P. 

 Aokinya is the female of the Black-Bellied Darter, gives ita length as 

 34 inches, extent 46 inches. 



It is found in the Carolina*, Georgia, and the Florida! ; common in 

 Brazil and Guyana. 



J-'rryata (Ray). Bill long, robust, trenchant, depressed at the base, 

 widened on the sides, with a suture above, the mandibles very much 

 booked at the point, snd the gape very wide : nostrils linear ; orbiU 

 naked ; throat dilatable. Winp very long and very narrow, first two 

 quills very long. Feet short; the toes united by a membrane which is 

 deeply notched. This is the genus Tackyptla of Vieillot 



The Man-of-Wsr Birds, or Frigates, are eminently raptorial. Ray 

 peaks of their eagle-eye, vulturine claws, and kite-like glidings. Their 

 immense extent of wing and dashing habit* have obtained for them 

 the name of the swiftest nailing ships of war that sweep the seas. 



P. Ayuilv. Tail forked, body black, bill red, orbits black. The 

 Bale is entirely black : abdomen of the female white. Some accounts 

 state the extent of the wings to be fourteen feet, an almost incredible 



/w) ; (he gulsr pouch not dllsted. 

 * 3taa * t *> dtctibes them under the name 



fc StS V" *" Uy ne " r 1>ort R f al - " TVy 



By. ys be "like k,U, look bUek, are very large winged in proper- 



Um to tMr Wlj ; the, fight with . gull, (which areto be found 



7; T *.? our> > fo f lMr t>y " I* fa however but an unequal 



rouch 



to 6* built on rocks in small desert island*, on 



.*"" IU l *V" d H ' UOM "^ * ~ Tne 

 be OM or two (n numb r, and to be of carnation 



tinge and dotted with crimson. The newly hatched young are said to 

 be covered with a gray down. 



This bird is very common on the intertropical American coast*, 

 and in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but always within reach of 

 land. 



PELECANOIDES. [PIIOCKLLARIDJL] 



PELECANUS. [PELECAKID*.] 

 I'Kl.ICAN. [PEI.ECAXID.B.1 



PELLORNEUM. rMKBUUDA] 



PELOCONITE, a Mineral which occurs amorphous. Fracture 

 conchoidal. Hardness 3. Brittle. Colour bluish-black. Streak liver- 

 brown. Lustre vitreous, dull. Opaque. Specific gravity 2'567. Soluble 

 in hydrochloric acid ; the solution contains phosphoric acid, iron, man 

 ganese, and copper. It is found in Chili. 



PELO'RIS. [PECTIN:D.E.] 



PELORONTA. [NERITID.E.] 



PELO'RUS. [FORAMI.NIFERA.1 



PELVIS. [MAN; SKELETON.] 



PEN-.EACE.*:, Sarcocolladt, a small natural order of Perigynous 

 Exogenous Plant*. These plants are shrubs with opposite imbricated 

 exstipulated leaves. The flowers are apetalous, the ovary composed 

 of four carpels, the calyx tubular. Lindley places this order in his 

 Rhamnal alliance, and points out its relations with Proteacece and 

 Sruniacixe. The species are mostly natives of the Cape of Good Hope. 

 A viscid sweetish^ nauseous gum-resin, called Sarcocol, is produced by 

 various species. This substance contains a peculiar principle called 

 Sarcocollin, which is converted into oxalic acid by the addition of nitric 

 acid. Although Dr. Lindley lias named these plants Sarcocollads, he 

 is inclined to doubt, with Endlicher, if this order really produces 

 Sarcocol at all ; and suggests that it is produced, as Sagapenum and 

 Galbanum, by a species of the order Umbellifcra. The genera are 

 Paiuea, Sarcocolla, and Geitoloma. There are 21 species. (Lindley, 

 Vegetable Kingdom.) 



PEN^EUS. [PALEMOMD.E.] 



PENELOPE. [CRACID*.] 



PENE'ROPLIS (De Montfort). [FORAMIJJIPEEA.] 



PENGUINS (ManchoU of the French), a group of Natatorial Birds, 

 in which the wing, powerless as an organ of flight, is reduced to a 

 mere rudiment as far as feathers ore concerned ; but it well assist* 

 the bird as a species of fin in it* rapid divings and evolutions under 

 water, and even as a kind of anterior extremity when progressing on 

 the land. They seem to be among the Natatora what the Struthio- 

 nidce are among the strictly terrestrial birds. 



The Penguins occupy in the southern hemisphere the place filled 

 by the Auks in the northern portion of the globe. 



The habit* of these birds are highly interesting, and have been 

 described by many travellers. Le Vail Ion t found in Dassen Island 

 that the smaller crevices of the rocks served as places of retreat for 

 Penguins (Sphatucui, probably), which swarmed there above every 

 other kind. " This bird," he says, " which is about two feet in length, 

 does not carry its body in the same manner as others : it stands per- 

 pendicularly on its two feet, which gives it an air of gravity, so much 

 the more ridiculous, as it* wings, which have no feathers, hang care- 

 lessly down on each side : it never uses them but in swimming. As 

 we advanced towards the middle of the island, we met innumerable 

 troops of them. Standing firm and erect on their legs, these animals 

 never deranged themselves in the least to let us pass. 



Sir John Narborough eays of the Patagonian Penguins, that their 

 erect attitude and bluish-black backs contrasted with their whito 

 bellies might cause them to be taken at a distance for young children 

 with whita bib*. The towns, camps, and rookeries, as they have been 

 called, of these birds, have proved an ample theme for most of tho 

 southern voyagers. Those at the Falkland Islands have attracted 

 particular attention. Some of these assemblies are described as giving 

 a dreary, not to say awful impression of the desolation of the place 

 and the utter absence of the human race. In some of the towns, it 

 is stated, there was a general stillness, and when the intruders walked 

 among the feathered population, to provide themselves with eggs, 

 they were regarded with Ride-long glances, but they seemed to carry 

 no terror with them. In many places the shores are covered with 

 those birds, and 300 have been taken within an hour; for they gener- 

 ally make no effort to escape, but stand quietly by whilst their 

 companions are knocked down with sticks till it comes to their turn. 

 Cook, speaking of two islands in the high latitudes of the south, 

 describes the cold as inteuie; the islands were covered with hnar- 

 frost and snow, neither trees nor shrubs appeared, and he saw no living 

 creature except the Shags and Penguins, the last being so numerous 

 that they seemed to encrust the rock. 



Some describe the rookeries as designed with the utmost order and 

 regularity, though they ore the resort of several different species. A 

 regular camp, often covering throe or four acres, is laid out and levelled, 

 and the ground disposed in squares for the nests, as accurately as if a 

 surveyor hod been employed. Their marchings and counter-marchings 

 are said to remind the observer of the manwuvres of soldiers on 

 parade. In the midst of this apparent order there appears to be, 

 according to the tame accounts, not very good government, for the 

 stronger upecics steal the eggs of the weaker, if they are left unguarded, 

 and the King Penguin (Aptcnodyttt Patachonica) is the greatest thief 



