Class 5. Aves. Order 5. Natatores. 457 



pelagica) of tte Englisi Channel, tlie Atlantic, and elsewhere. The group is 

 i-epresented in the Southern Hemisphere, at the Cape, etc., by the large 

 Albatross {Diomedea exulans), in which the hind toe is wanting. 



3. Steganopodes. A large, often backwardly directed, hind toe, which is 

 connected by a web with the other toes, so that there is here a web between all 

 four- (p. stegani) ; beak long, straight, the tip usually cui-ved downwards. The 

 Cormorant {Graculus carbo) is dark-coloui-ed, with a nan'ow beak hooked 

 at the tip ; it breeds in flocks in trees near the sea or by fresh 

 water ; feeds upon fish ; almost throughout the whole of Eufope, in Great 

 Britain, Asia, North America (in the winter, also in Africa). The Pelican 

 {Pelecanus), white, with reddish or yeUow touches, the beak long, straight, and 

 broad, hooked at the tip ; the skin between the mandibular rami capable of great 

 distension, to form a large sac for the reception of the prey; tongue rudimentary; 

 indigenous to warm countries ; two species in South Europe. The Frigate 

 Bird {Tachypetes aquila), with long, pointed wings, forked tail, and feebly- 

 developed web, lives in the open sea within the Tropics ; feeds chiefly upon Tlying 

 Fish, which it catches as they fly. The G-annet {Sula bassana), with long 

 wings, and a long powerful, pointed beak, plunges deep into the water after its 

 prey ; common in Iceland and the Pharoe Islands, also met with in Devonshire. 



4. Pygopodes. Wings weakly developed, but with the ordinary joints ; beak 

 of diverse form; leg, and most of the foreleg, enclosed in the body- wall, from 

 which the lower end projects close to the anus ; tail very short ; the body can be 

 held upright whilst walking. They dive after Fish, Shell-fish, and such like ; 

 belong to the Northern Frigid Zones. 



(a) The Divers (Colymbus) usually possess pedes palmati, with a small 

 hind toe ; a long beak, pointed and straight. Northern birds, building their nests 

 close to fresh water; several in England: the Great Northern Diver 

 (0. glacialis), the Black-throated Diver (0. arcticus), and the 

 Red-throated or Speckled Diver (C. septentrionalis). Grebes or 

 Dabchicks (Podiceps) are like the Divers, but differ in that they have no 

 continuous web, each fore toe having on either side a broad ridge (pedes 

 fissipabnati) ; they build a floating nest on stagnant water ; several species in 

 Great Britain: the Red-necked Grebe (P. grisegena), the Eared 

 Grebe {P. auritiis), the Little Grebe (P. mmor), and others. 



(6) The Auk Family (Alcidse) is distinguished from the preceding 

 group by the absence of a hind toe. They breed in flocks by the sea. The 

 Guillemots {Uria), with fairly long, straight, pointed beak, breed chiefly on 

 Northern seas; three species abundant on the shores of North Britain, the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands. Only one species of Auk, the Little Auk {Alca 

 alle) breeds in Great Britain; the Razor-bill {Alca tonda) breeds in colder 

 countries, but is occasionally found in the North Sea in wiater ; related to it is 

 the extinct Great Auk (Alca impennis), in which the degenerate wings were 

 quite useless for flight. It inhabited Iceland, Newfoundland, etc. The Puffin 

 {Mormon fratercula) has the beak much compressed laterally and grooved; 

 it digs out tunnels in the earth and nests in them ; breeding chiefly on the 

 Northern Coasts (Iceland, etc.). 



5. The Penguins {Impennes). Avery aberrant group, chiefly charac- 

 terised by the small fore Umbs, which move only from the shoulder, and 

 are covered with small scale-like feathers (no specially developed remiges) ; 

 they are of course useless as organs of flight, but are used for swim- 

 ming.* Like the Auks, the Penguins walk upright; the metatarsus is short 



* Indeed, the Bird swims almost entirely by means of the fore limbs, the feet 

 being stretched backwards with the soles upwards, and serving as steering organs. 



