BIRDS 



281 



Penguins are preeminently aquatic birds and are found 

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

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

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

 clumsy organs for walk- 

 ing, but in the water 

 serve as rudders. The 

 pengums Uve in great 

 flocks; and, in the egg- 

 laying season, it is almost 

 impossible to walk through 

 the rookeries without step- 

 ping on the young birtls 

 or eggs, so closely are 

 they crowded together. 



Albatross and petrel. — 

 These are representatives 

 of a gi'oup of water birds Ji 

 that possess long, pointed ^J 

 wings and are strong, 

 swift flyers. They are not 

 water birds in the sense of swimming and cU\nng, but 

 rather in the sense of living 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 li^dng 

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

 The mngs vary in different individuals from ten to twelve 

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

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

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



Fic. 190. — Penguin. 



