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in digging, which is principally performed by the males, they are sometimes so intent upon their work as to admit of being taken by the hand; and the same may also be done during incubation. At this period I have frequently obtained specimens by thrusting my arm into the burrow, though at the risk of receiving a bite from the powerful sharp-edged bill of the old bird. At the farther end of this hole the single egg is deposited, which in size nearly equals that of a pullet." The young are covered with blackish down, which they gradually lose, being able in a month to follow their parents to the sea. On rocky precipitous coasts the Puffin selects the clefts and hollows between the crags for the site of incubation.

The crown of the head, upper parts of the body, and collar round the neck are glossy black; cheeks, pearl grey; under plumage, white; two horny appendages are placed on the eyelids, the smaller one above, the larger beneath, their colour is leaden gray; the bill is deeply furrowed and bluish gray at the base, the middle part orange red, which deepens into bright red at the tip; legs, orange red. Length, thirteen inches. The young have the beak small and smooth, and of a dull yellow; their general plumage is also more dusky.

The last genus of the family of Alcade to be noticed is that termed Aptenodytes. It includes the Penguins, birds incapable of flight, having wings reduced to the size and appearance of paddles, appearing at a first view as if covered with scales, the feathers being short and rigid, and disposed in scale-like order. Their tarsi are placed completely behind, perpendicular to the body, so that the attitude of these birds on the land is as upright as that of man. The toes are webbed, and the tarsi very short and The several species are all natives of the seas of the southern hemisphere. They never visit the shore except for the purpose of breeding, and their progress on land is by pushing themselves along on their belly; for, though they stand upright, they cannot walk in this attitude. While swimming in the water, they are immersed above the breast, the head and neck only appearing, the

stout.

The character of these

finny wings being used as oars.

aquatic wings will be best understood by the annexed sketch from nature, of the wing of the Patagonian Penguin, the largest of the tribe.

PADDLE OF PENGUIN.

A sketch of the head is also subjoined, to show the characters of the beak, which it will be observed is long, slender, and slightly bent at the tip; the upper mandible having a longitudinal furrow, and being also covered with feathers down a third of its length, concealing the nostrils.

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The Penguins seem to occupy the place in the antarctic ocean which is occupied by the auks (and especially the

Alca impennis) in the arctic, their food, habits, and manners being very similar. The species are numerous, and are divided into sub-genera; the minute differential characters of which we shall not attempt to notice.

On the Falkland Isles, and in Terra del Fuego, a species termed the MAGELLANIC PENGUIN (Aptenodytes Magellanica) dwells in thousands during the breeding season. They were killed by the sailors of Captain Cook's ships in great numbers, but were very unpleasant as food. Unaccustomed to the sight of man, they had not yet learned to dread his power; and instead of retiring from the destroyer, they remained unmoved. In swimming, their swiftness and dexterity were observed to be so great that no fish could escape their pursuit. On meeting with any obstacle in the water, they would spring over it by a sudden exertion, leaping four or five feet above the surface, and again continue their course. This is the species, according to the opinion of Dr. Latham, to which Penrose alludes, of which he observes that "the chief curiosity is the laying their eggs; this they do in collective bodies, resorting in incredible numbers to certain spots which their long residence has freed from grass, and to which were given the name of towns. Here, during the breeding season, we were presented with a sight which conveyed a most dreary, I may say awful, idea of the desertion of these islands by the human species; a general stillness prevailed in these towns, and whenever we took our walks among them to provide ourselves with eggs, we were regarded with sidelong glances, but carried no terror with us." The Magellanic Penguin is about two feet in length.

The CRESTED PENGUIN (Catarrhactes chrysocoma, Briss.) is another species, about as large as a duck, which inhabits the Falkland Islands and Van Diemen's Land. It has obtained the name of Jumping Penguin from its habit of leaping quite out of the water, not only to avoid obstacles, but as if for sport. Captain Carmichael, in his description of the island of Tristan da Cunha, says of this

species, that it "conceals itself among the long grass, and in the bottom of ravines where they open upon the shore. Here they assemble in countless multitudes, and keep up a moaning noise, which can be heard at a great distance from the mountain, and the bold inhospitable coast around you is calculated to excite a train of ideas by no means pleasant." He also adds, that "In many birds I had an opportunity of examining, the pupil was contracted to a mere dot." See Linn. Trans. v. xii.

The most celebrated, however, and by far the largest of this singular tribe of birds is the PATAGONIAN PENGUIN, (Aptenodytes Patachonica,) of which we have given a sketch of the head and wing, in illustration of their general characteristics. This extraordinary species was first met with in the Falkland Islands, New Georgia, &c. In New Year's Island, near Staaten Island, these birds were seen by Captain Cook in thousands, and more than five hundred were taken by the ship's company for food, (Cook's Last Voyage, vol. i. p. 87.) Dr. Latham states that M. Bougainville" caught one which soon became so tame as to follow and know the person who had the care of it; it fed on flesh, fish, and bread, but after a time grew lean and pined away and died."

Much that is related of this bird is very contradictory; there are few birds whose habits are so little understood, in their minor details, as those of the present group; but, from the imperfect accounts received, their manners have much to interest the naturalist. The Hairy and the Woolly Penguin of Latham are the young of the present species, in different states of plumage.

The plumage of the adult is very striking; the top of the head and throat are black, bounded by a rich yellow belt, which commences broad so as to occupy a large space on the sides of the head; it then becomes narrow, and runs down to the middle of the neck, where it passes onwards till it blends with the white of the under plumage. The upper surface is glossy silvery gray; each feather being dusky black, but tipped with that colour which produces, at a little distance, a uniform effect. The tail consists of slender stiff elastic feathers; bill black, the

base of the under mandible being rich reddish purple or plum colour; length four feet; weight, according to Latham, forty pounds.

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We now conclude the family of Alcada; one more yet remains to finish the present rapid survey of the feathered tribes, whose habits and forms so pointedly declare His glory, who "was in the beginning, and was the beginning, and without whom was not any thing

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