PENGUIN ROOKERIES 
from each other instead of being fused into a single 
piece, as in other birds. The penguin, when at home 
on shore, dwells in “ rookeries.”’ These differ from the 
rookeries of rooks by being situated on the ground, 
though the individual nests are carefully made by each 
bird out of plants. These “nurseries”? are placed 
away from the common dwelling places of the rest. 
The rookeries, like those of old London, are a pande- 
monium of noise at times, which is described as being 
like the barking of myriad dogs in many keys. The 
penguin has also the weird habit of rising out of the 
water and saying ““ Whaat’ in a sepulchral tone. The 
largest penguin is the great Afptenodytes pennantt, 
called after Gilbert White’s correspondent, known as 
a naturalist, but better as an historian of London. 
This bird reaches a total length of three feet. But 
it was eclipsed by a giant, now extinct, of five feet in 
length known as Palgeospheniscus, which once in 
habited New Zealand. It is useless to tempt the 
penguin with buns. Fish is its only food, which it 
pursues living and catches with ease and in a somewhat 
different way to the darter, who transfixes the prey 
when caught and catches it again. 
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