Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/259

 PENGUIN PENIKESE ISLAND 249 chest. The plumage is soft and close, with a silvery gloss below, this part being used by fur dealers for tippets and collars ; the neck is short and stout, the skin hard and thick, and the belly loaded with fat. They are found in immense numbers about the straits of Magellan, the Falkland islands, and the eastern groups of the South Pacific islands ; they arrange themselves when on shore (which is only du- ring the breeding season) in regular ranks like soldiers, classed strictly according as they are young, moulting, incubating, or with perfect plumage, those of one class not being permit- ted to intrude upon another. They present a strange appearance as they sit upright; they employ their wings like anterior limbs on land, crawling along on the belly pretty fast to and from their breeding places in the manner of quadrupeds ; they are excellent -swimmers, and fly swiftly under water, using their wings as fins, and breasting the most violent waves; though stupid and rather helpless, they often boldly attack intruders on their breeding places, inflicting severe wounds with their sharp bills ; the food is principally animal, consisting of fishes and crustaceans. The eggs are laid on the ground or in holes, and are hatched by keeping them close between the thighs; the males collect food for the females, which be- come very fat during incubation; the young birds also get very fat before they quit the breeding places, which are covered with excre- ments and remains of dead birds, accumulated into heaps of guano during many successive years. The flesh of the penguin, though black and fishy, is considered eatable by hungry mari- ners. In the genus catarrhactes (Briss.) the bill is moderate, strong, compressed, grooved on the sides, and slightly hooked at the tip, with the end of the lower mandible truncated ; Crested Penguin (Catarrhactes chrysocome). the tail is long, of narrow rigid feathers ; the toes are long and strong. Several species are described, inhabiting in small parties the south- ern ocean, in open water or on fields of ice, sometimes more than 300 m. from land; they go to the shore only in the breeding season ; they are more active, if possible, than the pre- ceding genus, and swim and dive with great quickness ; their cries are harsh and discordant, resembling the bray of a donkey. The crested penguin (C. chrysocome^ Gmel.) is as large as a stout duck, black above and white below, with a yellowish white crest on each side of the head, and red bill and feet ; it inhabits the vi- cinity of the Falkland islands and Tasmania. In the genus sptieniscus (Briss.) the bill is much as in the last, with a more hooked tip and the nostrils uncovered in the middle of the lateral groove ; the tail and tarsi are very short, and the toes and claws long. The species are few, found about the rocky islands of the southern ocean, and on the "W. coast of South America and Africa ; the habits are the same as in the Cape Penguin (Spheniscus demersus). preceding genera. The Cape or jackass pen- guin (8. demersus, Gmel.), from the Cape of Good Hope, is black above and white below, with a white stripe over the eyes, the throat black, and a black line on the breast continued along each flank; the bill is brown, with a white band across the middle of its length ; the length is 21 in. ; its common name is derived from the resemblance of its voice to a bray. It comes to the surface of the water to breathe with such a spring and dives again so quickly, that it seems more like a fish leaping for sport than a bird. The Magellanic penguin (8. Ma- gellanicus, Forst.) is 2 ft. long, and sometimes weighs 20 or 30 Ibs. ; the general color is black above and white below, with white streaks on the sides of the head and a black band on the breast ; it is found about the southern parts of South America, and is well known to naviga- tors, who have long been in the habit of in- vading its breeding places, and killing the birds for food or for sport. PENIKESE ISLMD. See ELIZABETH ISLANDS.