I5i 



THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



wing and aptitude for swimming and diving are still more con- 

 spicuous than in the auks of the 

 northern regions. In the water, the 

 penguin makes use of its small 

 featherless wing-stumps as paddles ; 

 on land, as fore feet, with whose 

 Antarctic Pengum. ne ip ^ sca l e s so rapidly the grass- 



grown cliffs, as to be easily mistaken for a quadruped. When 

 at sea, and fishing, it comes to the surface for the purpose of 

 breathing, with such a spring, and dives again so instantaneously, 

 that at first sight no one can be sure that it is not a fish leaping 

 for sport. Other sea-birds generally keep part of their body out 

 of the water while swimming ; but this is not the case with the 

 penguin, whose head alone appears upon the surface ; and thus 

 it swims with such rapidity and perseverance, as almost to defy 

 many of the fishes to equal it. How much it feels itself at 

 home on the waters, may be inferred from the fact that Sir 

 James Eoss once saw two penguins paddling away a thousand 

 miles from the nearest land. 



On many uninhabited islands in the 

 higher latitudes of the southern hemi- 

 sphere, this strange bird is met with in 

 incredible numbers. On Possession 

 Island, for instance, a desolate rock dis- 

 covered by Sir James Eoss in lat.71° 56', 

 not the smallest appearance of vegeta- 

 tion could be found ; but inconceivable 

 myriads of penguins completely and* 

 densely covered the whole surface of 

 the island, along the ledges of the pre- 

 cipices, and even to the summits of the 

 hills, attacking vigorously the sailors as they waded through 

 their ranks, and pecking at them with their sharp beaks, dis- 

 puting possession, which, together with their loud coarse notes, 

 and the insupportable stench from the deep bed of guano which 

 had been forming for ages, made them glad to get away again. 

 Sir James took possession of the island in the name of Queen 

 Victoria ; but unfortunately its treasures of manure are hidden 

 beyond a far too formidable barrier of ice ever to be available 

 to man. 



Penguin. 



