210 BIRD WATER TRESPASSERS. 



A mere glance at the Penguin will show at once 

 that it belongs more to the water than to the land, 

 and not at all to the air; its structure having been 

 extraordinarily, though simply, modified. 



Take, for example, the structure of the bones. In 

 flying birds, they are hollow, very light, and com- 

 municate with the lungs ; but in the Penguins they 

 are solid, heavy, and have no communication with 

 the lungs. 



Then there are the wings, which are absolutely 

 useless for flight. In the first place, they are far too 

 small to support the bird in the air, as may be seen by 

 reference to the figures in Plate IV., where a couple 

 of Penguins are seen standing in the extraordinary 

 attitude which they adopt when at rest. The plumage 

 with which they are covered is not in the least like 

 that of flying birds, but consists of short and very 

 stiff feathers pressed closely together, and looking 

 just like scales. 



Although these curiously modified wings cannot 

 be employed to raise the bird in the air, they certainly 

 aid its progress in the water ; and in them there is a 

 singular analogy to the same organs in the aquatic 

 ichneumon discovered by Sir J. Lubbock. As this 

 insect will presently be described in full, I shall only 

 refer to it in the present place. 



These wings can also be employed for the purpose 

 of running on land, so that for a time the bipedal bird 

 is transformed into a quadruped. Mr. Darwin, when 

 at the Falkland Islands, saw a Jackass Penguin 

 (Spheniscus demersus) thus running about among 

 the tussocks on the side of the cliff", and moving 



