142 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



caught off the New Zealand coast which had 

 barnacles growing on its toes, which were 

 quite sore and had lost some of the claws 

 in consequence ; and for shell -fish to have 

 settled and grown up on its feet like this the 

 bird must have been at sea for weeks, if not 

 months. It is no effort for a bird to keep 

 swimming for a long time, for they are all 

 lighter than water, so that they float natur- 

 ally ; and this is why so many of the divers 

 come ashore so little. 



There are no penguins north of the equator, 

 and nearly all of them live quite down in the 

 south seas ; but in the north we get another 

 family of diving birds which look and behave 

 rather like them, except that they can fly, 

 and are not such perfect divers. These are 

 the auks, of which three kinds are very 

 common round most of our coasts, the guille- 

 mot, razorbill, and puffin. They swim with 

 their feet, like ducks, when they are on the 

 top of the water, but as soon as they dive they 

 take to their wings, and fly under water ; 

 but in doing this they do not spread their 

 wings so widely as they do when they fly in 

 the air, but keep them half closed. You can 



