habits the northern seas. It has the various popular names of Dove Kie, Sea-Dove, Sea-Pigeon, Greenland Dove, Pigeon-Diver, and Ice-Bird.

The PERROQUET AUK, A. psittacula, is eleven inches long, and abounds along the coast of Kamtschatka. It is said that they are so little suspicious, that the natives place a dress with large sleeves near their holes, into which the birds run, mistaking them for their burrows, and are thus entrapped. This and the preceding fly, dive, and swim with facility.

The Penguins-Manchots of the French-resemble the auks, but the feathers of their wings are rudimentary, and covered with skin, so that they are like fins. These are very useful in swimming, but do not enable the birds to fly. There are several species, abounding in the Antarctic Seas, where they pass the greater portion of their time in the water, and appear rarely to stay any time on land, except during the breeding season. In the water they are exceedingly active, swimming and diving with the greatest facility, and making use of their little naked wings as fins, when engaged in the latter operation. When in motion on land, however, they employ these in place of an anterior pair of legs; and by their assistance contrive to scuttle along so rapidly that when they are in motion among the tussocks of grass, they might readily be mistaken for quadrupeds. They do not appear to have very acute sensations; Sparman tells us that he stumbled over a sleeping one and kicked it several yards without disturbing its rest. Forster says that he left several of them apparently lifeless while he went in pursuit of others, but they afterward got up and marched off with their usual gravity. They hatch their eggs by holding them between their thighs, and when threatened with danger, move away, still retaining them in this position. During the period of incubation the male fishes for the female, and after the young are hatched both parents are engaged for a time in procuring their food. Genus EUDYPTES: Eudyptes.-This includes the CRESTED PENGUIN, E. chrysocoma-the Manchot Sauteur of Buffon-size of a duck; it has a tuft of sulphur-colored feathers on the sides of its head. It leaps four or five feet out of water and then falls upon its prey. This is the Gorfou Sauteur of Le Maout; found in the Antarctic Seas.

THE JACKASS PENGUIN.

Genus APTENODYTES: Aptenodytes, includes the JACKASS PENGUIN, A. demersa, of which Mr. Darwin gives the following pleasant account, the scene of the adventure being the Falkland Islands, where these birds abound: "One day, having placed myself between one of these penguins and the water, I was much amused by watching its habits. It was a brave bird, and, till reaching the sea, it regularly fought and drove me backward. Nothing less than heavy blows would have stopped him; every inch gained he firmly kept, standing close before me, erect and determined. When thus opposed, he continually rolled his head from side to side, in a very odd manner, as if the power of vision only lay in the anterior and basal part of each eye. This bird is commonly called the Jackass Penguin, from its habit, while on shore, of throwing its head backward, and making a loud, strange noise.

very like the braying of that animal; but while at sea and undisturbed, its note is very deep and solemn, and is often heard in the night-time. In diving, its little plumeless wings are used as fins; but on the land as front-legs. When crawling-it may be said on four legs-through the tus

socks, or on the side of a grassy cliff, it moved so very quickly that it might readily have been mistaken for a quadruped. When at sea, and fishing, it comes to the surface, for the purpose of breathing, with such a spring, and dives again so instantaneously, that I defy any one at first sight to be sure that it is not a fish leaping for sport."

The following interesting account, probably referring to this species, is furnished by Captain Fitzroy. He is speaking of Noir Island: "Multitudes of Penguins were swarming together in some parts of the island, among the bushes and tussocks near the shore, having gone there for the purpose of moulting and rearing their young. They were very valiant in self-defense, and ran open-mouthed, by dozens, at any one who invaded their territory, little knowing how soon a stick would scatter them on the ground. The young were good eating, but the others proved to be black and tough when cooked. The manner in which they feed their young is curious and rather amusing. The old bird gets on a little eminence and makes a great noise, between quacking and braying, holding its head up in the air, as if it were haranguing the penguinnery, while the young one stands close to it, but a little lower. The old bird, having continued its clatter for about a minute, puts its head down and opens its mouth widely, into which the young one thrusts its head, and then appears to suck from the throat of its mother for a minute or two, after which the clatter is repeated, and the young one is again fed; this continues for about ten minutes. I observed some which were moulting make the same noise, and then apparently swallow what they thus supplied themselves with; so in this way, I suppose, they are furnished with subsistence during the time they cannot seek it in the water."

The KING PENGUIN or PATAGONIAN PENGUIN, A. Patachonica, is over three feet long; slaty

THE KING PENGUIN.

black above, with white, satin-like feathers on the breast. It appears to be very abundant on the Straits of Magellan, the coasts of Patagonia, Terra del Fuego, Falkland Islands, &c. Sir John Narborough says that their erect attitude and bluish-black backs, contrasted with their white bellies, might cause them to be taken at a distance for young children with white bibs. The towns, camps, and rookeries, as they have been called, of these birds, have proved an ample theme for most of the southern voyagers. Those at the Falkland Islands have attracted particular attention. Some of these assemblies are described as giving a dreary, not to say awful impression of the desolation of the place, and the utter absence of the human race. In some of the towns, it is stated, there was a general stillness, and when the intruders walked among the feathered population, to provide themselves with eggs, they were regarded with sidelong glances, but they seemed to carry no terror with them. In many places the

shores are covered with these birds, and three hundred have been taken within an hour; for they generally make no effort to escape, but stand quietly by, while their companions are knocked down with sticks till it comes to their turn. Cook, speaking of two islands in the high latitudes of the south, describes the cold as intense; the islands were covered with hoar-frost and snow, neither trees nor shrubs appeared, and he saw no living creature except the shags and penguins, the last being so numerous that they seemed to encrust the rock.

Some describe the rookeries as designed with the utmost order and regularity, though they are the resort of several different species. A regular camp, often covering three or four acres, is laid

out and leveled, and the ground disposed in squares for the nests, as accurately as if a surveyor had been employed. Their marchings and countermarchings are said to remind the observer of the maneuvers of soldiers on parade. In the midst of this apparent order, there appears to be, according to the same accounts, not very good government, for the stronger species steal the eggs of the weaker, if they are left unguarded, and the King Penguin is the greatest thief of all.

But the dimensions of those rookeries we have noticed, sink into insignificance when compared with a settlement of the King Penguins recorded by Mr. G. Bennett, who saw at the north end of Macquarrie Island, in the South Pacific Ocean, a colony of these birds which covered an extent of thirty or forty acres. He describes the number of penguins collected together in this spot as immense; but observes that it would be almost impossible to guess at it with any near approach to truth, as, during the whole of the day and night, thirty or forty thousand are continually landing, and an equal number going to sea. "They are arranged, when on shore, in as compact a manner, and in as regular ranks as a regiment of soldiers; and are classed with the greatest order, the young birds being in one situation, the moulting birds in another, the sitting hens in a third, the clean birds in a fourth, &c.; and so strictly do birds in similar conditions congregate, that should a bird that is moulting intrude itself among those which are clean, it is immediately ejected from them. The females hatch the eggs by keeping them close between their thighs, and if approached during the time of incubation, move away, carrying their eggs with them. At this time the male bird goes to sea and collects food for the female, which becomes very fat. After the young is hatched, both parents go to sea, and bring home food for it; it soon becomes so fat as scarcely to be able to walk, the old birds getting very thin. They sit quite upright in their roosting places, and walk in the erect position until they arrive at the beach, when they throw themselves on their breasts, in order to encounter the very heavy sea met with at their landingplace."

There are still some other species.

THE PELECANIDE.

This family includes several large birds of powerful organization, and voracious appetites, feeding entirely on fishes, which they capture in various ways.

THE TRUE PELICANS.

Genus PELECANUS: Pelecanus.-The birds of this genus are large and heavy, with immense extent of wing, and are excellent swimmers. The expansive pouch, whose elasticity is well known to all who have witnessed the shapes into which it is stretched and formed by the itinerant showman, will hold a considerable number of fish, and thus enables the bird to dispose of the superfluous quantity which may be taken during fishing expeditions, either for its own consumption or for the nourishment of its young. In feeding the nestlings-and the male is said to supply the wants of the female when sitting, in the same manner--the under mandible is pressed against the neck and breast, to assist the bird in disgorging the contents of the capacious pouch; and during this action the red nail of the upper mandible would appear to come in contact with the breast; thus laying the foundation, in all probability, for the fable that the pelican nourished her young with her blood, and for the attitude in which the imagination of painters has placed this bird in books of emblems, &c., with the blood spirting from the wounds made by the terminating nail of the upper mandible into the gaping mouths of her offspring.

The neighborhood of rivers, lakes, and the sea-coasts, are the haunts of the Pelicans, and they are rarely seen farther than twenty leagues from the land. They appear to be to a certain extent gregarious. Levaillant, upon visiting Dassen-Eyland, where was the tomb of a Danish captain, at the entrance of Saldanha Bay, beheld, as he says, after wading through the surf and clambering up the rocks, such a spectacle as perhaps never before appeared to the eye of mortal. "All of a sudden there arose from the whole surface of the island, an impenetrable cloud, which formed, at the distance of forty feet above our heads, an immense canopy, or rather a sky, composed of birds of every species, and of all colors-cormorants, sea-gulls, sea-swallows, pelicans, and I believe the whole winged tribe of this part of Africa were here assembled. All their voices, mixed together