PENGUIN (possibly from Welsh pen gs'en, white head, applied to the auk and later trans ferred to the penguin, or perhaps from a native South American name). One of the Antarctic sea birds of the family Spheniscida3, representing the larger group Sphenisei. They have short wings, quite unfit for flight, but covered with short rigid scale-like feathers, and much like the flippers of turtles. The legs are very short, and arc placed very far back, so that on land penguins rest on the tarsus, which is widened like the sole of the foot of a quadruped, and they thus maintain a perfectly erect posture. Their bones, unlike those of birds in general, are hard, compact, and heavy, and have no air-eavities; those of the extremities contain an oily marrow. The body is of an el liptical form ; the neck of moderate length; the head small; the bill moderately long, straight, more or less compressed; the tail very short. They are among the most aquatic birds, and spend little more time on shore than is necessary for sleeping and reproduction. Their food con sists of all the small life of the' sea, which they catch by swimming and diving often to very great depths. The wings are modified internally as well as externally to make them effective aids in this work, and are used not together like oars, as other birds swim under water, but alternately and with a twisting motion, so that no part of the result of the effort is neutralized and continuous and very rapid progress is made without the aid of the feet, which merely serve as rudders. Underneath their Skin is a layer of blubber-like fat, which assists them to withstand the icy air and water of their habitat. They go about in swimming 'schools,' and gather at their breeding grounds in enormous flocks.
About fifteen species are known, mainly in high southern latitudes, although some species strag gle as far north as Peru and Brazil, New Zealand.
and the Cape of Good 'lope. It is upon the isl ands about Cape Horn and in the Antarctic Sea that they abound and breed in the greatest num bers. Some gather stones, bits of stick, grass, etc., into a sort of a nest ; others make no nest whatever; while the king penguin, and perhaps some others, incubate the egg as do their Arctic analogues, the auks, by holding it between their thighs, resting upon the top of their feet, the male and female relieving each other at intervals. A single egg only is laid. but it is tended and guarded with great care; and the mother penguin is said to keep her young one with her for a twelvemonth.
The king penguins (Aptenodytes) are among the largest. They stand three feet high, and are grayish blue with black heads, white breasts, and orange or yellow throats. They exist in colonies of many thousands. The 'jackass-penguins' (Spheniscus) are medium-sized or sinall species with a stout bill. They receive their popular name from their cry. The rock-hoppers or ma caronis (Eudyptes) are notable for being curi ously crested with curly yellow plumes on each side of the head. The smallest known species of penguin is Kudiiptila minor of Australia and New Zealand, which is only about a foot long. In the Eocene rocks of New Zealand fossil remains of a giant penguin (/'((lircudypIca antureticus) have been found, indicating a bird six or seven feet high.
Consult: Newton, Dictionary of Birds (New York, 1S93) ; Stejneger, Standard Natural His tory, vol. iv, (Boston. ISS5) ; Buller. Hillis of New Zealand (2d ed., London. 188S1 ; Darwin. Naturalist's Voyage (New York, 1899) ; Mosely, The Naturalist in the Challenger (London, 1879) ; and the writings of Antarctic navigators. See Plate of Aviss, ALBATROSS, ETC.