IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 115 
The walk of the Penguin is not very graceful, being, in fact, 
a sort of a waddle; but it is said that if it is hurried, it will use its 
wings for fore feet, and run like a quadruped, and very rapidly too. 
Mamma Penguin has a droll way of bringing up her babies. 
To begin with, she lays one egg of a grayish white color. It is 
hardly worth while to build a nest and sit on it for weeks, just for 
one egg, so this odd mother just takes it up — some writers say 
in a sort of a fold of her skin, and others say under her leg as 
though it was an arm — and carries it wherever she goes. She is 
not at all inconvenienced by this burden, for she can leap about, 
and roll from rock to rock without dropping it. It is well she can, 
for now I must tell you a very tyrannical and bad trick of Papa 
Penguin. If she is so unfortunate as to drop the egg, and thus 
destroy the hope of the family, this solemn looking personage, this 
wise father, actually beats his wife without mercy. 
There is one good thing about him though, I must admit. He 
feeds her well while she is attending to this little domestic business. 
He goes out to sea and brings back many a nice fish for her to eat, 
and, in fact, she usually gets very fat at this time. 
When at last the young Penguin comes to light and leaves his 
egg, both parents go out and fish for him. A droll little gray 
colored, woolly coated fellow he is, too. Then it is his turn to get 
fat, while papa and mamma both get thin. 
There is a comical account of the way in which this mother 
feeds her baby. When she comes in with the food, all nicely packed 
in her stomach, you know, she comes up on the shore, and the 
little one gets as near her as he can, all ready. She then begins 
making a very loud noise, something between a quacking and a 
braying, and after a little of this — which I suppose must be a 
small lecture on table manners — she puts her head down and opens 
her mouth very wide. Baby Penguin puts his bill into her throat, 
and in some mysterious way — not yet explained — he gets food. 
This goes on for ten minutes or so, first a talk and then a feed. 
And Papa Penguin does the very same way. 
There are many kinds of Penguins, but their habits are very 
much alike. They are not afraid of man, and will fight with their 
strong beaks, when molested. They are very noisy creatures, 
making a sound like the braying of a donkey. 
Their dress is more like down, or a sort of wool, than like 
feathers — a covering well suited to life in the water. 
