C82 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



their fossil remains, while no doubt many others existed of which 

 we have no conception, because every vestige of them has long 

 since disappeared under the fading effects of time, soil and 

 climate. It was once stoutly denied that there was any such 

 animal as the gorilla ; who shall therefore say that the arcla exists 

 only as the coinage of a fertile brain? 



ARCTIC BIRDS. 



BIRDS, of many and varying species, are numerous in the 

 arctic regions, such as snow-owls, ptarmigan both of which 

 seek their food under the snow the king eider duck, brent geese, 

 great northern black and red-throated divers, bermide geese, sea 

 eagles, and others of less size and quiet habits, such as the Lap- 

 land bunting, pin-tail ducks, and the snow-bunting. This latter 

 may properly be called the polar singing bird, for it sings the 

 sweetest lays throughout the fugitive summer, and to a traveler 

 in that bleak region is a genuine joy. The auk is a prolific inhab- 

 itant of the polar climate, where it breeds with the rapidity of 

 English sparrows in our own country. There are islands in the 

 arctic seas which seem to be composed almost entirely of auk 

 guano, and so thickly do the birds settle at times that they cover 

 acres of the rocky and precipitous formations which rise out of 

 the Northern ocean. The Esquimaux catch them in great num- 

 bers by means of a circular net, made fast to a handle of nor- 

 whal bone and used as we do a fish net. 



The ptarmigan, or snow-partridge, is found in great abundance 

 in many parts of the polar regions. Its flesh is delicious, and is 

 highly prized by natives and arctic travelers. They go in flocks, 

 like the quail, which they somewhat resemble ; but their winter 

 dress is snow-white, except their tail-feathers, and when at rest, 

 they are scarcely distinguishable from the snow at a distance of 

 ten feet. 



The sea eagle is monarch of the frigid air, in which his lordly 

 sway is acknowledged by the fear which his presence inspires in 

 all the feathered creature* which share his kingdom. At his 

 approach the gull and the auk conceal themselves in the fissures 

 of the rocks, but are frequently dragged forth by then 1 relentless 



