160 



SUBKINGDOM VERTEBRATA. 



edges being furnished with a broad, stiff membrane, making 

 each one a paddle. On the land, not being able even to 

 tumble, like the loon, it lies down and pushes itself along by 

 its feet. In the water, however, it is perfectly at home, diving 

 and using its wings in pursuit of fishes and aquatic insects.* 



Fig. 273. 



Fig. 27k. 



Podiceps cornUtus, 

 Crested Grebe. T ' 5 . 



Fratercula arctica, 

 Puffin, Arctic Kegions. 



Alcidse. The Puffin and Aukf have three toes fully 

 webbed, short wings, and a general adaptation to a purely 

 aquatic life. On the land they sit upright. Most species 

 pluck out feathers to bring their eggs into immediate contact 



are often built In the ledges of Inaccessible cliffs, but the hardy fowlers suspend 

 themselves by stout ropes from the summit of the precipices, and by swinging to and 

 fro reach every cranny and crevice of the rock, gathering eggs and young birds. The 

 calling is a perilous one. Often the rope chafes against a projecting edge of the 

 rock, or vertigo seizes the fowler, or he reaches too far, or slips from his footing. 

 Th? men holding the rope above hear a shriek of despair, and then all is still save the 

 roar of the remorseless waves below. 



* Singularly enough, the stomach of the Grebe always contains amass of its own 

 feathers, involuntarily swallowed, probably in dressing and cleansing its plnmagp. 

 One species makes a floating nest upon which it sits and hatches its progeny. But 

 if disturbed, it plunges one foot into the water and, employing it as an oar, transports 

 its dwelling from the threatened danger. 



t The Great Auk (Alca impennls) is said to have become extinct within the last 

 half-century. A high value is placed upon the few specimens which have been 

 preserved, there being now known only thirt -four birds and forty-two eggs. 

 (Wood.) 



