73 THE PENGUIN. 



himself about with amazing dexterity, directs his attack to that 

 part of the rock which seems to promise the greatest success, 

 strikes with his fowling-staff the game as it comes out of the 

 holes, occasionally disengages himself from the rope by which 

 he was suspended, roams through the cavities of the rocks, and, 

 when he has procured a sufficient booty, gives the signal to his 

 companions, and is again drawn up ; when a good supper of the 

 coarse flesh of the sea-gull, compensates to these poor and hardy 

 adventurers the dangers and fatigues of the day. 



We have given this account of the manner of taking these 

 birds in the northern and western islands, as an interesting ex- 

 hibition of a grand and awful scene. Although the exertions of 

 men in a state of poverty and obscurity pass unnoticed, these 

 fowling enterprises of the northern peasants would perhaps have 

 tried the resolution of some of the heroes of history. 



THE PENGUIN 



Chiefly frequents those parts of the globe, which are situated 

 beyond the tropic of Capricorn, and seems to hold the same 

 place in the southern as the gulls occupy in the northern hemi- 

 sphere, neither of the kinds having ever been met with between 

 the tropics. The wings of the penguin are not constructed for 

 flight, and its legs are as little fitted for walking ; but no bird 

 can be more perfectly qualified for an aquatic life. Their legs, 

 which are extremely short, are placed so far backward that they 

 seem to spring from under the rump ; but this conformation, 

 which disqualifies them from living on land, renders them ex- 

 ceedingly well adapted for a residence in the deep ; for the 

 backward position of their feet fits them for answering the pur- 

 pose of fins, and gives to the bird a power of pushing itself for- 

 ward in the water with extraordinary velocity. The Magellanic 

 penguin is as large as a goose. The upper part of its plumage 

 is black; but the under parts white. This circumstance appears 

 to be the effect of their continual immersion in the water, 

 where, except during the time of their incubation, this bird con- 

 stantly resides. The penguin always walks erect, with its short 

 wings hanging down like arms ; and a great number of them 

 together have exactly the appearance of children with white 

 aprons about their waists. Hence they have been said to ex- 

 hibit some of the qualities of men, birds, and fishes ; walking 

 upright like the human species, being feathered like the volatile 

 race, and provided with feet answering the purpose of fins, like 

 the inhabitants of the watery element. 



What is most to be remarked in the penguin, is, that being 

 more constantly than any other bird immersed in the water, 

 Creative Wisdom has furnished it with a plumage more close 



