98 THE FIRST FLUTTERINGS OF THE WING. 
The shapeless puffin, which seems the very caricature of a caricature, 
the paroquet, resembles it in its great beak, rudely chipped, but 
without edge or strength. Tail-less and ill-balanced, it may always 
be upset by the weight of its large head. It ventures, never- 
theless, to flutter about, at the hazard of toppling over. It swoops 
nobly close to the surface of earth, and is, perhaps, the envy of the 
penguins and the seals. Sometimes it even risks itself at sea—ill- 
fated ship, which the hghtest breeze will wreck ! 
It is, however, impossible to deny that the first flight is taken. 
Birds of various kinds carry on the enterprise more successfully. The 
rich genus of divers (Brachypterz), in its species widely different, 
connects the sailor-birds with the natatores, or swimmers: those, with 
wings perfected, with a bold and secure flight, accomplish the longest 
voyages ; these, still clothed with the glittering feathers of the penguin, 
frisk and sport at the bottom of the seas. They want but fins and 
respiratory organs to become actual fishes. They are alternately 
masters of both elements, air and water. 
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