BIRDS 



281 



water 



The 



great 



Penguins are preeminently aquatic birds and are founfl 

 on tire islands in the Antarctic Sea. The wings are small 

 and adapted to swimming (Fig. 190), for they are used only 

 as padtUes. The legs are short and, on land, form very 

 clumsy organs for walk- 

 ing, but in the 

 serve as rudders, 

 penguins hve in 

 flocks; and, in the egg- 

 laying season, it is almost 

 impossible to walk through 

 the rookeries without step- 

 ping on the young t)irds 

 or eggs, so closely are 

 they crowdetl together. 



Albatross and petrel. — 

 These are representatives 

 of a group of water birds 

 that possess long, pointed 

 ■ftdngs and are strong, 

 swift flyers. They are not 

 water birds in the sense of swimming and diving, but 

 rather in the sense of Uving near the water, flying over it 

 much of their time, and eating fish and other animals 

 found in water. 



The wandering albatross is a water bird of a very different 

 type from the penguin. It is the largest water bird living 

 and has the greatest wing expanse of any bird on the sea. 

 The wings vary in different in(_lividuals fronr ten to twelve 

 feet from tip to tip. It is probably the greatest flyer, in 

 regard to distance and time spent on the wing, of any bird 

 known. For days and days this bird will follow a vessel at 



Tig. 190. — Penguin. 



