426 



NATATORY 



-BIRDS. PROCELLARIDJ 



upon the northern shores of Britain. It is a large 

 bird, measuring about thirty-two inches in length ; the 

 wings, although furnished* with ordinary feathers, are 

 far too small to support its bulky body in the air ; and 

 its bill is large, strong, much compressed, and marked 

 with several furrows on each side. In its habits the 

 Great Auk closely resembles the Guillemots. For- 

 merly it occurred not uncommonly about the shores of 

 Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, and the 

 eastern coast of North America, as far down as La- 

 brador and Newfoundland, but for many years it has 

 scarcely ever been seen in any of these localities, and 

 in some of them it is certainly extinct. Examples of 

 it are so rare in collections, that a good specimen is 

 now worth fifty guineas, and even the egg will fetch 

 from twenty to thirty pounds. 



THE PATAGONIAN PENGUIN (Aptenodytes pata- 

 gonica). The birds which we have just been describ- 

 ing are found with some allied forms in the extreme 

 northern seas; the Penguins, which constitute the 

 remainder of this family, are equally peculiar to 

 Ihose approaching the antarctic circle. They are 

 distinguished by the rudimentary state of the wings, 

 which are not only far too small to support the birds 

 in the air, but are even destitute of the ordinary quills, 

 the skin of these parts being covered only with scales, 

 which represent rudimentary feathers. These curious 

 organs serve as paddles to assist the birds in swimming 

 beneath the surface of the water; they are also some- 

 times used as a second pair of feet to aid them in their 

 movements on shore. 



The Patagonian Penguin is a large species, standing 

 nearly three feet in height when in an erect position ; 

 its colouring is ehown by our figure. It is found in 

 large flocks about the coasts of Patagonia and the 

 islands scattered over the antarctic ocean. On shore it 

 is seen in compact bodies, the young birds, moulting 

 birds, and sitting females keeping in distinct parties ; 

 each female lays only a single egg, which she hatches 

 by holding it between her legs, and when disturbed, 

 waddles away with her treasure secured in the same 

 manner. At this period the male goes to sea to fish, 

 and brings a supply of food to the female, and the 

 latter, from her sedentary life becomes very fat. The 

 young birds are also fed on shore for some time. 



THE CAPE PENGUIN (Spheniscus demersus), which 

 is found about the Cape of Good Hope, and also on 

 the shores of the Falkland islands, is nearly the size 

 of a goose, and is black above and white beneath, 

 with a black line on the breast. It occurs in immense 

 numbers, and breeds among the rocks. 



THE JACKASS PENGUIN (Eudyptes demersa) is 

 very generally distributed in the antarctic seas, and 

 occurs in many places in vast quantities. It is about 

 the size of a large duck, black above and white be- 

 neath, with the back of the head adorned with a pair 

 of tufts of a white or yellow colour. The name of 

 Jackass Penguin given to this bird is an allusion to 

 the peculiar braying sound which it emits when on 

 shore ; its note when at sea is deep and solemn. 

 This bird makes use of its little wings as fore-legs 

 when moving on the land, and is described by Mr. 

 Darwin as advancing so rapidly in this way among 



the tussocks of grass, that it might easily be mistaken 

 for a quadruped. 



FAMILY IV. PROCELLARID.E. 



Whilst the birds of the preceding family are very 

 scantily furnished with wings, and some of them 

 totally incapable of flight, those to which we have 

 now to advert possess large wings, and fly with great 

 ease and rapidity. They have a tolerably stout body, 

 supported upon moderately long legs, which are placed 

 less backward than in any of the preceding groups, so 

 that these birds walk with more grace than most of 

 their allies. The anterior toes are well developed 

 and united by large webs, but the posterior toe is 

 rudimentary or entirely wanting. The structure of 

 the bill serves to distinguish these birds from those 

 of the following family, which they resemble in general 

 form. The apical portion of both mandibles is dis 

 tinctly separated from the basal part, and the upper 

 surface of the base of the upper mandible is usually 

 occupied by a pair of tubes, generally united together, 

 at the extremity of which are the openings of the 

 nostrils. The nostrils are always of a tubular form. 



These birds are strictly oceanic in their habits, pass- 

 ing nearly their whole time upon the surface of the 

 sea, and even apparently delighting in rough weather. 

 Few of them ever visit the shore except for the pur- 

 pose of breeding, when they deposit their eggs, and 

 hatch and bring up their young upon the ledges of the 

 rocks. Their food consists of fishes and other marine 

 animals, together with fragments of animal matter 

 which they find floating on the waves. 



THE GREAT SHEARWATER (Puffinus major), a very 

 abundant species in the North American seas, is also 

 seen upon the British coasts, especially on the Atlantic 

 side. It has a long and rather slender, dark-brown 

 bill, and the upper surface ashy-gray, with the back of 

 the neck nearly white, and the primaries and tail- 

 feathers blackish ; the whole lower surface is white, 

 variegated with brown about the vent, and the feet 

 are brownish-yellow. The length of this bird is 

 eighteen inches. 



THE HANKS SHEARWATER (Puffinus Anrjlorum] is 

 a smaller species, only fourteen inches in length, and 

 of a brownish-black colour above. It resides all the 

 year in the British seas, especially along our western 

 coasts, and occurs on most of the shores of Europe and 

 on those of North America. This bird breeds in cre- 

 vices amongst the rocks and in rabbit burrows, laying 

 a single egg. It goes out to sea in the evening during 

 the breeding season, both sexes passing the day in their 

 burrow, where they are heard crooning over a sort of 

 guttural song. Like many other species of this family, 

 this bird when caught in the hand emits a large quan- 

 tity of a green oily matter of a most abominable odour. 



THE GREAT BLACK PETREL (Puffinus ccquinoctialis] 

 A considerable number of birds nearly allied to the 

 preceding are met with in the Southern seas, extending 

 even to the Antarctic ocean. One of these is the Great 

 Black Petrel, which inhabits various parts of the Pacific 

 ocean, and is found on the shores of New Zealand and 



