42 BIRD GALLERY. 



becoming entirely white underneath. A comparison of the maps 

 showing the distribution of the Grebes and Divers clearly indicates 

 how the latter take the place of the former in the more northern 

 regions. 



Order VIII. SPHENISCIFORMES. 

 Family SpHENisciDiE. Penguins. (Plate III.) 

 [Central Penguins may fairly be considered to hold the same place among the 



Case.] Birds that the Seals do among the Mammalia. At the present time they 

 are represented by comparatively few species, though they probably 

 played a more important part in prehistoric times. They date back at 

 least to the Upper Eocene, in which the gigantic New Zealand Penguin, 

 standing over six feet high, was discovered. Their wings are modified 

 into swimming-paddles covered with narrow scale-like feathers. Their 

 legs are included in the skin of the body, and their large clumsy feet 

 are placed so far back as to render their locomotion on laud a somewhat 

 difficult operation. Their home is the sea, and when diving they propel 

 themselves solely by means of their wings, which they use alternately, 

 while their legs are used as a rudder. They breed on the desolate rocks 

 and islands in the Southern Ocean, where they are not often disturbed 

 by man, and extend up to the equator (Galapagos) in tiie Pacific. 



All the known species, seventeen in number, may be grouped into 

 six genera. The best known are the large King- Penguins {Aptenodytes 

 patagonica) (350) [Pigs, c &/], which generally stand with their head 

 and neck stretched out vertically and the tip of their beak pointed almost 

 directly upwards. When pursued on shore they can move with con- 

 siderable speed, and lying down flat on the belly, work both their legs 

 and wings wildly to assist them in their frantic efiforts to escape. Still 

 larger birds are the Emperor- Penguins {A. forsteri) (361) from the 

 Antarctic continent. Both these and the King-Penguin have a remark- 

 able method of incubating, which is shared by male and female alike. 

 [Table- ^^^ large single egg is placed on the feet and pressed closely to a bare 



case.] patch on the lower abdomen, being kept in place by a peculiar flap 

 of thickly feathered skin. When the bird leaves the egg for feeding 

 purposes, it is immediately taken possession of by some other Penguin. 

 The Jackass-Penguins {Spheniscus) have received their name from their 

 cry, which resembles the braying of a donkey. The nest of S. magel- 

 lanicus (340) is a rudely constructed pile* of grass-roots and other 

 materials. The Rock-hoppers {Catarrhactes (343-345) [Eigs. a & c] 

 and Meyadyptes (340) [Eig. <^]), with shorter bills, derive their name 

 from their curious mode of hopping from rock to rock with both feet 

 placed together. The smallest of all are the species of Eudyptula (352, 

 352 a) [Eig. 6], which inhabit the coasts of South Australia and New 

 Zealand. 



