182 MAGELLANIC PENGUIN. 



and supply it with an exhaustless banquet of food the most 

 congenial to its palate. 



THE MAGELLANIC PENGUIN. 



Birds of the penguin kind are ill adapted for flight, as 

 their wings serve rather for paddles to assist their pro- 

 gressive motion than to raise them in the regions of the 

 air ; and their legs are so singularly constructed, that 

 they are scarcely formed for walking. Yet no animate 

 can be more admirably fitted for an aquatic life ; for 

 they swim and dive with equal celerity and ease. As 

 they never visit land except for the purpose of breeding, 

 their plumage derives a tinge from their situation ; that 

 part of them which has been continually bathed in the 

 neater being white, while their backs and wings are of 

 uifferent colours, according to their species. Their 

 plumage also is more close and warm than that of most 

 other birds, so that the sea seems to be their natural 

 element. * 



The Magellanic penguin, the largest and the most re- 

 markable of the kind, is of nearly the size of the common 

 goose. Its wings are very short, and covered with stiff 

 hard feathers, of no use in flight. The plumage of the 

 upper part of the head and back, and of the rump, ia 

 likewise stiff, and of a black colour ; while the belly and 

 breast, as is common in this kind, are of a snowy white- 

 ness, except a line of black which crosses the crop. 



These birds walk with their heads erect, the fin-like 

 wings appearing as arms ; and, when viewed at a distance, 

 they may not unaptly be compared to so many children 

 with white aprons. They uniformly feed on fish, which 

 abound in the latitudes where they frequent ; and indeed 

 their fatness is a proof of the plenty in which they live. 

 They dive with great rapidity, and are voracious to a great 

 degree. Their flesh, however, is rank and filthy ; yet 

 seamen, for want of better fare, are sometimes glad to 

 make a meal of it. 



These fowls are social and gregarious, especially when 



