222 NATURAL HISTORY. 



shoot it without fail ; but the Grebe, nothing daunted, dived under water, came straight down the 

 ditch, passed us at a point where it was not more than six yards broad and about two yards deep, and 

 reappeared in the river about twenty yards off, diving the instant we moved, and coming up again far 

 out of shot. This is only one instance out of many we could relate which have occurred to ourselves 

 in our chase after Dabchicks, when the birds have saved themselves by their adroitness in swimming 

 and diving. Besides the Little Grebe, there are found in England the Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps 

 cristaius), and in winter the Red-necked Grebe, the Eared Grebe, and the Sclavonian Grebe 

 sometimes occur. Most of the Grebes are migratory, and some are very widely distributed, occurring 

 over nearly the whole surface of the globe. One of the most remarkable is the South American 

 species (Centropelma microptenrm), from Lake Titicaca, in the Bolivian Andes, a bird of large size, but 

 with such small wings that it cannot fly. 



THE TWELFTH ORDER OF BIRDS. THE PENGUINS (IMPENNES). 



The Penguins represent in the Southern Ocean the Auks and Divers of the Northern Seas. They 

 are called Impennes on account of their wings, which are very small in comparison with the size of 

 their bodies, and quite hard in texture, very rigid, and movable only at the base, and covered with 

 small stiff feathers of a bristly nature. The body is long and flat, of an oblong form, and the bird 

 swims with a wavy motion, using its feet and wings as auxiliary portions of the body. The Penguins 

 are found on some of the rocky islands in immense numbers, and Dr. Bennett gives a good idea of a 

 Penguin rookery in Macquarie Island, where they occupied about thirty or forty acres of ground : 

 " The number of Penguins," he writes, " collected together in this spot is immense, but it would be 

 impossible to guess at it with any near approach to truth, as during the whole day and night 30,000 

 or 40,000 of them are continually landing, and an equal number going to sea. They are arranged 

 when on shore in as compact a manner and in as regular ranks as a regiment of soldiers, and are 

 classed with the greatest order, the young birds being in one situation, the moulting birds in another, 

 the sitting hens in a third, the clean birds in a fourth, &c. ; and so strictly do birds in a similar con- 

 dition congregate, that should a bird that is moulting intrude itself upon those that are clean, it is 

 immediately ejected from among them." During the late expedition to Kerguelen Island numbers of 

 Penguins were found nesting on the island, and the Rev. A. E. Eaton writes as follows concerning the 

 species known as Pygoscelis tceniata : 



" The Johnnie (as the whalers call this bird) is common in Royal Sound. It builds in communities, 

 some of only a dozen, others from 70 to 150 families. A more populous colony upon the mainland 

 was visited by six oflicers from the ships, who estimated the number of nests in it to amount to 2,000 

 or more. These larger communities are approached from the sea by regular paths, conspicuous at a 

 distance, like the well-worn sheep tracks, which lead straight up the hill from the water. Their 

 formation is due to the Penguins being very particular about where they land and enter the sea. A 

 small party of the birds occupied a position upon the neck of a low promontory, within an hour's 

 walk of Observatory Bay. Their nests were nearest to the farther side of the isthmus, but when 

 they were approached the male birds used to run to the water, not by the shortest route, where it was 

 deep close to the rocks, but by the longest, to a place where the shore was shelving. It was amusing 

 to see them start off in a troop as fast as their legs could carry them, holding out their wings, and 

 tumbling headlong over stones in their way, because as they ran they would keep looking back instead 

 of before them, and to hear their outcries. Panic and consternation seemed to possess them all, but 

 the females (possibly because they could not keep up with their mates) seldom went far from their 

 nests ; and if the intruder stood still, soon returned and settled down again upon their eggs. Not 

 many weeks had passed before a change was effected in their conduct. The young were hatched, and 

 now the mothers anxiously endeavoured to persuade them to follow the example of their fathers, and 

 run away to sea. But the nestlings preferred to stay in their nests ; they did not mind if the stranger 

 did stroke them, although their anxious mothers did run at him with open mouths whenever he 

 dared to do so. Only a few of the older chicks could be prevailed upon to stir, and they, after 

 waddling a few yards, became satisfied with their performance and turned to go home again. The 

 mothers who had straggled to a greater distance began to return too. It was now that the more 



