42 BIKD GALLERY. 



thesCj the Red-throated (290) and Black-throated Divers (291), nesting 

 within our limits, and two, the Great Northern (293) and the White- 

 billed Divers (292), visiting our shores in winter, the latter very rarely. 

 In winter they migrate further south and change their summer plumage 

 for a more sober garb, becoming entirely white underneath. A 

 comparison of the maps showing the distribution of the Grebes and 

 Divers clearly indicates how the latter take the place of the former in 

 the more northern regions. 



Order VIII. SPHENISCIFORMES. 



Family Sphenisciu*. Penguins. (Plate III.) 



[Ceulre Penguins may fairly be considered to hold the same place among 

 Birds that the Seals do among the Mammalia. At the present time they 

 are represented by comparatively few species, though they probably 

 played a more important part in prehistoric times. They date back at 

 least to the Upper Eocene, in which the gigantic New Zealand Penguin, 

 standing over six feet high, was discovered. Their wings are modified 

 into swimming-paddles covered with narrow scale-like feathers. Their 

 legs are included in the skin of the body, and their large clumsy feet 

 placed so far back as to render their locomotion on land a very difficult 

 operation. Their home is the sea, and w^hen diving they propel them- 

 selves solely by means of their wings, which they use alternately, while 

 their legs are used as a rudder. They breed on the desolate rocks and 

 islands in the Southern Ocean, where they are not often disturbed by 

 man, and extend up to the equator (Galapagos) in the Pacific. 



All the known species^ seventeen in number, may be grouped into six 

 genera. The best known are the large King-Penguins {Aptenodytes 

 patagonica) (350) [Figs, e &/], which generally stand with their head 

 and neck stretched out vertically and the tip of their beak pointed 

 directly upwards. When pursued on shore they can move with con- 

 siderable speed, and lying down flat on the belly, work both their legs 

 and wings wildly to assist them in their frantic efforts to escape. Still 

 larger birds are the Emperor-Penguins [A. forsteri) (351) from the 

 Antarctic continent. The Jackass-Penguins {Spheniscus) have received 

 their name from their cry, which resembles the braying of a donkey. 

 The nest of S. magellanicus (340) is a rudely constructed pile of grass- 

 roots and other materials. The Rock-hoppers {Catarrhactes (343-345) 

 [Figs, a k, c\ and Megadyptes (346)) [Fig. d"], with shorter bills, 

 derive their name from their curious mode of hopping from rock to rock 

 with both feet placed together. The smallest of all are the species of 

 Eudyptula (352) [Fig. 6], which inhabit the coasts of South Australia 

 and New Zealand. 



