74 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS 



As might be expected, these bird-submarines are 

 extremely awkward on land, and very fish-like in 

 water. Penguins are the water-fairies of the bird 

 kingdom. Mr. Cornish, in speaking of their un- 

 derwater sports and the silvery appearance of the 

 plvmaage, caused by the air from the wings, says: 

 "They seem fitted for everlasting flight in the 

 palaces and grottoes of sea-nymphs, across which 

 they fly, bearing bubbles of sunlight from above, 

 scattering them through the chambers like crystal 

 globes of fire." Darting here and there below the 

 surface, leaving a lightning-like trail of air-bubbles 

 behind, the penguin flashes through the water like 

 a comet of the heavens. It seizes and swallows 

 many fish without the slightest hesitation, and when 

 its fishing tour is over it quietly rises to the sur- 

 face and climbs on to land — ^the most awkward and 

 clumsy creature imaginable. 



New conditions create new habits. The cormo- 

 rant, according to Herr Gatke, the distinguished 

 ornithologist, has learned how to immerse itself and 

 remain perfectly motionless in a pond of water with 

 only its head above the surface, and from this posi- 

 tion attack flying or swimming prey. He claims 

 to have seen the cormorant in this position catch 

 a swallow and eat it. What power it is that en- 

 ables the cormorant, whose body is many times 



