216 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



dart down upon such fish as approach too near 

 Ihe surface. The penguin 1 kind are but ill 

 fitted for flight, and still less for walking. 

 Every body must have seen the awkward 

 manner in which a duck, either wild or tame, 

 attempts to change place : they must recollect 

 with what softness and ease a gull or a kite 

 waves its pinions, and with what a coil and 

 flutter the duck attempts to move them ; how 

 many strokes it is obliged to give, in order to 

 gather a little air ; and even when it is thus 

 raised, how soon it is fatigued with the force 

 of its exertions, and obliged to take rest again 

 But the duck is not, in its natural state, half 

 so unwieldly an animal as the whole tribe of 

 the penguin kind. Their wings are much 

 shorter, more scantily furnished with quills, 

 and the whole pinion placed too forward to 

 be usefully employed. For this reason, the 

 largest of the penguin kind, that have a thick 

 heavy body to raise, cannot fly at all. Their 



various parts of the arctic regions, and is well known in 

 the Feroe islands, in Norway, and Iceland. It is, 

 moreover, a native of the high latitudes of the southern 

 hemisphere, and is mentioned by Cook, and other cir- 

 cumnavigators, under the name of the Port Egmont 

 hen. Dr Fleming observes, that the feathers of these 

 birds have a veiy strong smell, not unlike that peculiar 

 to the petrels, to which genus they show much affinity. 

 (For a representation of Richardson's Skua, see Plate 

 XIX. fig. 43.) 



1 In the "Zoological Proceedings for 1835" is an 

 account of the penguin, by the late Mr G. Bennett. 

 That able naturalist, to whom science is indebted for 

 many original observations, and whose work, entitled 

 '* Wanderings," &c., is well known, paid much atten- 

 tion to the Patagonian, or King Penguin (see Plate XX. 

 fig. 34.) which he met with in various islands in the 

 high southern latitudes ; and he describes particularly 

 a colony of these birds, which covers an extent of thirty 

 or forty acres at the north end of Macquarrie island, in 

 the South Pacific ocean. 



" The number of penguins collected together in this 

 spot is immense, but it would be almost impossible to 

 guess at it with any near approach to truth, as, during 

 the whole of the day and night, 30,000 or 40,000 of 

 them are continually lauding, and an equal number 

 going to sea. They are arranged, when on shore, in 

 as compact a manner and in as regular ranks as a regi- 

 ment of soldiers; and are classed with the greatest 

 order, the young birds being in one situation, the 

 moulting birds in another, the sitting hens in a third, 

 the clean birds in a fourth, &c. ; and so strictly do birds 

 in similar condition congregate, that should a bird that 

 is moulting intrude itself among those which are clean, 

 it is immediately ejected from among them. 



" The females hatch the eggs by keeping them close 

 between their thighs; and, if approached during the 

 time of incubation, move away, carrying the eggs with 

 them. At this time the male bird goes to sea and 

 collects food for the female, which becomes very fat. 

 After the young is hatched, both parents go to sea, 

 and bring home food for it; it soon becomes so fat as 

 scarcely to be able to walk, the old birds getting very 

 thin. They sit quite upright in their roosting places, 

 and walk in the erect position until they arrive at the 

 beach, when they throw themselves on their breasts in 

 order to encounter the very heavy sea met with at their 

 landing-place. 



Although the appearance of penguins generally indi- 



wings serve them rather as paddles to help them 

 forward, when they attempt to move swiftly, 

 and in a manner walk along the surface of 

 the water. Even the smallest kinds seldom 

 fly by choice ; they flutter their wings with the 

 swiftest efforts without making way ; and 

 though they have but a small weight of body 

 to sustain, yet they seldom venture to quit the 

 water, where they are provided with food and 

 protection. 



As the wings of the penguin tribe are un- 

 fitted for flight, their legs are still more awk- 

 wardly adapted for walking. This whole 

 tribe have all above the knee hid within the 

 belly : and nothing appears but two short legs, 

 or feet, as some would call them, that seem 

 stuck under the rump, arid upon which the 

 animal is very awkwardly supported. They 

 seem, when sitting, or attempting to walk, 

 like a dog, that has been taught to sit up, or 

 to move a minuet. Their short legs drive 



cates the neighbourhood of land, Mr G. Bennet cited 

 several instances of their occurrence at a considerable 

 distance from any known land. 



The observations of Mr Bennet are confirmed by 

 Lieut. Liardet. They assemble on the shore, herd 

 together in vast bodies, forming a dense phalanx, all 

 moving and acting in concert together ; one party 

 going off to sea, another party returning, another 

 remaining in array on the beach. They appear to be 

 very peaceable among each other, but are sometimes 

 observed to fight, striking with the posterior edge of 

 the wing. Should a person attempt to lay hold of 

 them, they not only use their wings, but their beak, 

 which is a far more formidable weapon, and capable of 

 inflicting a severe wound. Cuttle-fishes appear to con- 

 stitute the greater part of their food ; in the stomach of 

 the specimen dissected was found a considerable num- 

 ber of the homey parrot-like beaks of these molluscous 

 animals. Their mode of walking is very singular ; it 

 is a sort of awkward waddle, the body turning with the 

 action of the limbs in motion, which cross each other 

 alternately; it is, in fact, an " over-handed," mode of 

 progression, if the word be allowed, producing a strange 

 and ludicrous effect. We see a tendency to it in the 

 waddle of the duck and other swimming-birds. During 

 the period of incubation the females all assemble to- 

 gether, sitting upright on a kind of general nest, of 

 loosely-arranged sticks, which they carry to the selected 

 spot in their bills, and flourish if then approached, as 

 if in defiance of the intruder on their secluded haunt. 

 They lay but one egg, of a whitish colour, and twice 

 the size of that of the goose ; this they carry between 

 their thighs, supporting it beneath by the short stiff tail, 

 which is bent underneath it. The young are covered 

 with thick soft down, of a brownish gray ; in this state 

 the bird is the Woolly penguin of Latham, which must 

 not be regarded as a distinct species, but as the King 

 Penguin in nestling plumage. At night they utter 

 loud moaning noises in concert, the general chorus of 

 voices resounding to a great distance, and clearly dis- 

 tinguishable from the roar of the surf or lashing of the 

 waves. The flesh of the penguin is rank, and unfit 

 for food ; both the muscles and bones are oily, and the 

 skin is lined with a thick layer of oleaginous fat ; yet 

 more than 500 were taken in New Year's island (near 

 Staten island), as food for the crew, by the sailors in 

 Captain Cook's ship who found them occupying that 

 pot in thousands. 



