Careful Parents 399 



over I cannot think, although their webbed feet are 

 so large and wide, for their centre of gravity certainly 

 does fall far without their bases, and great muscular 

 effort must be necessary in order that the erect position 

 may be preserved. Yet they manage to climb 

 with astounding celerity the almost unscaleable icy 

 cliffs of Antarctica, and may be seen ranged along the 

 narrow rock-ledges in rows like vases on the shelves of 

 a china-dealer's shop, who has no idea of picturesquely 

 arranging his wares. In places where materials for 

 nests are to be found they build them or lay them 

 down (there is little constructive work possible), but 

 where no vegetation is to be found, they just choose 

 a slight hollow and there deposit two eggs, one always 

 larger than the other, which has been supposed to 

 denote difference of sex. If so, how evenly the sexes 

 must be balanced ! What has puzzled many southern 

 voyagers is the way in which the hen Penguin, when 

 disturbed and fearful for her eggs, will manage to 

 convey one of them away. There is a little hollow- 

 ing of the body just in front of the space between the 

 legs, and in this it is supposed the mother carries the 

 egg, but how she holds it there is a mystery. 



The Penguin in all his varieties has a very wide 

 range. All round the southern hemisphere, and as 

 far north as the Galapagos Islands on the South Ameri- 

 can off-shore grounds. Penguins are to be found, and 

 Hartwig says that Humboldt's Penguin, which is 

 frequently found in Callao Bay, is made a household 

 pet of by the Peruvians, who call it the pajaro nino. 

 This he translates ' little darling bird,' but the good 

 professor's Spanish is weak ; it only means ' baby-boy 

 bird.' The noble CasteUano is splendidly furnished 

 with terms of endearment. At one time it seemed as 

 if the Penguin would be exterminated on all the 



