BIRDS UNDER WATER 143 



see, if you watch one of these birds diving in a 

 tank, that its wings are not so good for diving 

 as the penguin's, for the long quills are rather 

 in the way ; but, as these birds need their 

 wings for getting up to the rocks where they 

 lay their eggs, and for travelling to their 

 fishing-grounds, they have to put up with 

 what one may call a " general-purpose " wing, 

 long enough to keep them up in the air, and 

 short and stiff enough to be a fairly good 

 paddle under water. But they are not very 

 clever performers in the air ; they cannot 

 start up suddenly or turn quickly, as they do 

 under water, but they get up with a long 

 slant from the waves, and turn in a long 

 curve. No doubt they would be glad to give 

 up flying altogether, as the great auk, which 

 was much the biggest of the clan, did ; this 

 bird had only small wings, of no use at all to 

 raise its heavy body, and used to go ashore to 

 lay its egg on low beaches, as penguins do 

 now. Indeed, the great auk was the bird 

 which was first called " penguin," and the 

 birds we call penguins nowadays were named 

 after it. But wherever a shore is suitable for 

 a bird which cannot fly to land on, it is also 



