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CHAPTER XI. 
PENGUINS — FIN-WINGED. KING PENGUIN OF THE 
SOUTHERN REGIONS DE SCRIBED— BREEDING PLACES 
VALUABLE FOR OIL. SEA-FOWLER’S PERILOUS OC- 
CUPATION-DESCRIPTION OF, IN SHETLAND, ST. KILDA, 
ETC. — SINGULAR ESCAPES FATAL ACCIDENTS. 
Hitherto we have considered birds as more or less 
inhabitants of the air, gifted with wings for that 
purpose : it remains for us to speak of two families, 
possessing indeed wings, hut too small to assist them 
in flight, and used, therefore, only as fish use their 
fins, for giving them additional powers on, or beneath, 
the surface of the water, where they pass the greater 
part of their existence. They are the Penguins, pro- 
perly so called, and the Aptenodytes, a word com- 
pounded from the Greek, signifying wingless divers ; 
for although the wings of the former scarcely deserve 
the name, they are nevertheless covered to a certain 
degree with feathers, whereas those of the latter are 
only furnished with vestiges of feathers, at first sight 
much resembling fish-scales. 
The Penguins are chiefly confined to the coldest 
regions of the northern or southern hemispheres. 
The rapidity with which these birds fly, if it may 
he so termed, under water, after fish, is quite 
astonishing. One which was caught in the Orkney 
islands, at first refused all food, and became so weak, 
that it was expected to die: at length, however, it 
was tempted to eat, and being plentifully supplied 
with fish, soon resumed its strength and activity. 
