The Penguins 57 



to be tended by the parent birds for a considerable period 

 after they leave the egg, and may often be seen swimming 

 after them. Like the old birds, they swim and dive actively, 

 coming up ifter the plunge at a long distance." 



Perhaps the most wonderful of all the birds which live 

 on the globe at the present day are the Penguins, which 

 constitute the Order Sphenisciformes. Their rock-haunting 

 and fishing habits, as well as the feeble development of 

 their wings, have caused them to be associated in the 

 minds of naturalists with the Auks (Alcifonnes) of the 

 Northern Hemisphere, which the Penguins in a manner 

 represent in the Antarctic Seas. A slight acquaintance, 

 however, with these two forms of birds is sufficient to 

 dispel any idea of their affinity. However small the wings 

 of the Auks may be, they are actual wings, and not 

 " flippers " as in the Penguins. The latter birds cannot 

 fly, whereas the Guillemots, Razor-bills, Puffins and other 

 Auks can fly well, the exception having been the Great 

 Auk (Plautus impennis\ which, as is well known, was a 

 flightless bird. 



Penguins may, therefore, be admitted to form an Order 

 of Birds by themselves, with no actually close ally at the 

 present day. On land they progress clumsily, and walk in 

 an upright position, but in the sea they are surprisingly 

 active, and by the aid of their fin-like wings they urge 

 themselves through the water with as much speed as some 

 other birds traverse the air, their food consisting of fish 

 and other marine animals. In swimming they keep their 

 feet outstretched behind, never using them to propel their 

 bodies through the water. Although found at considerable 

 distances from land, they betake themselves to desolate 

 and rocky islands for the purposes of nidification, and vast 

 colonies of Penguins are often found on some of the islands 

 of the Antarctic Ocean. One species, and that the largest 





