COLLECTION OF BIRDS. 38l 



its nest under ground. Immediately after comes 

 the alca cristatella, a very rare bird, found in 

 the Aleutian islands by M. Choris, who presented 

 it to the Museum. After these are the auks 

 (alca, Lath., fraterculd^ Briss.), remarkable for 

 their large flat beak, and the pinguins, whose 

 wings are so small that they cannot support 

 themselves in the air for an instant ; they always 

 remain in the waters, and are excellent divers ; 

 they build on steep rocks, which they climb, 

 using their feet and wings equally. 



The aptenodytes, Forst., fill the greater part of 

 the forty-ninth case, they are from the Antarctic 

 seas ; the shortness of the feathers on their 

 wings is such that they may be taken for scales. 

 They seldom get on shore except when they 

 breed, and to reach the spot they drag themselves 

 along with difficulty. The largest, the Patago- 

 nian pinguin^ which is as large as a goose, lives 

 in great numbers in the straits of Magellan ; the 

 plumage of that part of its skin which lines the 

 belly is silvery, and much sought for by furriers. 

 The aptenodftes chrysocoma inhabits the Malouin 

 islands and New Holland ; it bounds along the 

 surface of the water. 



The fiftieth and fifty-first cases contain the lon- 

 gipemies. They live in the open seas, are found 

 in all countries; some are met with six hundred 



