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CHAPTER X. 



DIVERS PENGUINS TINAMOUS STRUTHIOUS BIRDS LIZARD-TAILED BIRDS. 



THE DIVERS Characters THE AUKS The Great Auk Probably extinct The Razor-bill- The Guillemot Mr. See- 

 bohm's Notes of Visits to their Breeding-places The Experiences of a "dimmer" The Rotche The Puffins 

 The True Divers - -The European Species The Grebes Tlie Little Grebe, or Dabchick The Dabchick's Powers of 

 Diving THE PENGUINS Distinctive Features A Penguin Rookery Life in a "Johnnie" Colony Their 

 Nests Their Habits THE TINAMO US Their Place in the Class Aves Their Appearance Habits THE 

 STRUTHIOUS BIRDS Their Characters Entirely Terrestrial Odd Use of the Wing in Running Feathering 

 Distribution THE OSTRICHES Characters THE OSTRICH Mention in History Scriptural References 

 Distribution How the Bushman Hunts the Ostrich Method adopted in Morocco Other Modes of Hunting An 

 Omnivorous Bird It* Stride Its Cry Habits It* Resemblance to a Camel The Feathers Exportation of Feathers 

 from Africa A Visit to an Ostrich Farm Use of "Incubators "Habits of the Birds in the Enclosures The Ostrich 

 Dance The Rheas, or American Ostriches THE CASSOWARIES Characters of the Cassowary the Mooruk It< 

 Extraordinary Power of Leaping Dr. Bennett's Account of its Habits The Emus Characters Habits Emu Beef 

 Threatened Extermination Its " Booming " Note THE KIWIS Characters Species Dr. Buller's Account of its 

 Habits Mr. Bartlett's Note on its Attempts at Nesting THE LIZARD-TAILED BIRDS The Archaeoptcryx 

 Lithographica Description FOSSIL FORMS Evidence from Foot-prints Prof. Marsh's Researches in America Birds 

 with Teeth Other Forms Concluding Remarks. 



THE ELEVENTH ORDER OF BIRDS. THE DIVERS (PYGOPODES). 



TUB order of the Divers comprises not only those birds, but the Auks and Grebes, forming 

 together a very natural group, which may be divided into three families. In all of these birds the 

 wings are short and pointed, the quills being complete in shape, and not imperfectly developed, as in the 

 Penguins, which in many respects the Auks and Grebes resemble. The feet are placed far back in 

 the body, so that when the birds stand they are erect and have an awkward look. The tarsus is very 

 short, but the toes ai-e long. The tail is always small. The Auks and Divers are birds of the 

 northern regions only, but the Grebes are more widely distributed, and are most of them more or less 

 migratory. 



THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE PYGOPODES. THE AUKS (Akida). 



These birds have no hind toe, and are of a thick-set build, giving them somewhat of a clumsy 

 appearance on land ; but this is amply atoned for by their wonderful activity in the water. There are 

 three sub-families of the Auks. The first contains the Razor-bills (A lea) and the Guillemots (Uria), 

 the second the Little Auks (Mergulus), and the third the Puffins (Mormon, &c.). The Guillemots 

 and Razor-bills have the region of the nostrils feathered and the bill rather longer. They are found 

 in many portions of the Old and New Worlds, but always in northern localities, and where they breed 

 both species often occur in very large colonies. The most interesting of all these birds is the Great 

 Auk (Alca impennis), a species whose extinction in modern times is of the greatest regret to the true 

 naturalist. Many people have fancied that the species will be re-discovered in the high north by some 

 of the Arctic Expeditions, but this is extremely improbable, as the Great Auk never seems to have 

 been a very northern bird. From the Orkneys and the Hebrides the bird reached Iceland, and then 

 re-appeared on the coast of Newfoundland, where, during recent years, numerous semi-fossil remains 

 have been unearthed. At one time the Great Auk appears to have been plentiful in certain of the 

 above-named localities, but has been exterminated during the last fifty years. It was the largest of 

 all the Auks, measuring quite two feet and a half. The Razor-bill (Alca torda), which is its nearest 

 representative, is only about a foot and a half in length, and is by no means uncommon in the 

 places in which it congregates during the breeding season. "Writing of the breeding colonies of the 

 Razor-bills and Guillemots on the Flamborough cliffs, Mr. Seebohm observes : " The Razor-bill is by 

 no means so plentiful as the Guillemot ; nevertheless, in walking along the cliffs we may count them 

 by hundreds, if not by thousands ; and he is certainly a much handsomer bird. The contrast between 

 the brilliant black of the upper plumage and the dazzling white of the under surface, the white marks 

 on his black bill, and the general 'get up' of his whole plumage, as if he had just come out of a 

 bandbox, or, to use a simile more appropriate for a naturalist, as if he had only just emerged from 

 his chrysalis, and had not ruffled a feather, makes him quite the dandy of the cliffs. Alighted on a 

 rock, which he is by no means particular should be horizontal, he is constantly looking about in every 

 direction, his head never being still for a moment. Poor, unfortunate fellow ! the sight of a ' cobble * 



