Fig. 16.–Little Grebe. Podicipes fluviatilis. × ¼.
Fam. II. In the Podicipedidae both sexes are mainly dusky brown or blackish grey above, and silvery white below, often with some white on the wing; so it will only be necessary to note hereafter the distinctive ornaments or bright colours which are invariably lost in winter. Podicipes fluviatilis, the Little Grebe or Dabchick, ranging over Europe, Africa, and Asia to the Malay Countries and North Australia, has rich chestnut cheeks, throat, and sides of the neck, horn-coloured bill, and greenish feet. In winter the chestnut fades to buff with a white chin. Count Salvadori[[51]] considers P. gularis of Australia and Papuasia and P. tricolor of the Moluccas separable, P. pelzelni of Madagascar being hardly so. P. dominicus, extending from the southern United States to Patagonia, differs in its black throat. The Little Grebe breeds commonly in Britain, while P. cristatus, the Great Crested Grebe or Loon, only nests on our largest waters, covering, however, a wide range in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It has a bifurcate crest of brown, a chestnut ruff tipped with black round the cheeks and throat, a red base to the bill and greenish feet. P. griseigena, the Red-necked Grebe, which wanders to our shores, but breeds in the north of the Palaearctic and Nearctic Regions, and perhaps occasionally in Morocco, has the foreneck chestnut, a line above the cheeks white, and the base of the bill yellow. Some writers denominate the North American and East Asiatic form, P. holboelli. P. auritus, the Slavonian Grebe of the sub-Arctic portions of both worlds, has a tuft of golden chestnut feathers on each side of the head, an ample black ruff, rufous chest and flanks, black bill and greenish feet; P. nigricollis, the Eared Grebe, of Central and Southern Europe, Africa, temperate Asia, and western North America, has merely golden ear-tufts, with a black chest. Both visit us at certain seasons. Finally, P. nestor inhabits South Australia; P. rufipectus New Zealand; P. caliparaeus, P. rollandi, and Aechmophorus major America south of Peru and Brazil; Ae. occidentalis western North America; Podilymbus podiceps nearly all the New World: and Centropelma micropterum Lake Titicaca only. The first two have white hair-like filaments on the head, the third and fourth elongated ear-coverts of golden brown or black and white; while Podilymbus is remarkable for its stout whitish bill with median black band and its black throat, Centropelma for its aborted wings and flightless condition. Podicipes taczanowskii, of Lake Junin in Peru, differs from P. caliparaeus in its longer and lighter bill and feet, and grey-brown ear-coverts. Grebes in the down are streaked with white or buff on a dusky ground, while some have a naked red space on the crown.
These migratory birds frequent reedy streams and stagnant waters in summer, being companionable, though not gregarious; hard weather, however, drives them to the sea. They walk fairly well, though awkwardly, and sit upon the whole metatarsus; but the chicks progress on "all fours," using the wings almost as forefeet.[[52]] They fly straight and rapidly, with head and feet extended, but have difficulty in leaving the water; they dive at the slightest alarm, their quick sight enabling them to vanish below the surface at the flash of a gun, to reappear, with hardly a ripple, at a distance. Frequently it requires much patience to obtain a second view, as their bodies can be submerged to any extent, and at times the bill alone is exposed. In swimming they jerk the head and often rise vertically to shake their wings. They descend from the air with a splash and a glide, while in diving the feet alone act as oars, the young soon equalling their parents in this respect. The note is a harsh croak in the larger forms, a softer sound or whit-whit in the smaller; the food consists of fish when procurable, but small reptiles, amphibians, molluscs, crustaceans, insects, and vegetable matter are frequently added, and feathers of some size are constantly found in the stomach. The nest, a pile of aquatic weeds or rushes of varying bulk, is fixed among reeds, sedges, semi-natant masses of herbage, or, more rarely, upon low branches of trees or bushes verging upon the water. Should this rise higher, fresh materials are added. From three to six bluish-white eggs with a smooth chalky covering are laid in a slight depression above, but being covered with wet weeds by the female on leaving, soon become stained with brown. The bill is used in concealing them, nor does an invader's presence usually hinder the operation. Incubation lasts from twenty-one to twenty-four days. Both sexes are said to assist, and the mother carries the nestlings on her back, or even dives with them in that position.
Order III. SPHENISCIFORMES.
The Order Sphenisciformes, with its Sub-Order Sphenisci, contains only those remarkable marine birds the Penguins (Fam. Spheniscidae), the life of which is chiefly spent on the stormy waters of the Antarctic seas. Coupled by former writers with the Auks, their northern analogues, it has now been shown that the slight external similarity of the two groups is utterly misleading, the nearest allies of the primitive forms here treated being the Petrels on the one hand and the Divers and Grebes on the other. Their unique structure is correlated with very peculiar habits.
The horny sheath of the maxilla is composed of from three to five more or less distinct pieces, while the powerful bill may be long, thin, and slightly decurved, as in Aptenodytes and Pygosceles; shorter and pretty broad, as in Eudyptes; or very stout, short, and compressed, as in Spheniscus, where the prominent hook of the culmen overhangs a truncated mandible. The three metatarsals are not completely fused as in other birds (p. [10]), the scutellated metatarsus itself being shorter and broader than in any other Family, except the Fregatidae; the legs are set far back, the tibia is hardly visible, and the short thick toes are directed forwards, the small hallux alone having no web. Even more striking are the wings, which are totally devoid of normally-developed quills, though the number of feathers is very large, the primaries themselves amounting to about thirty-six; these flippers or paddles have highly compressed bones with no power of flexure, but work freely from the shoulder in rotatory fashion, requiring a corresponding increase of strength in the muscles of the neighbouring parts. The numerous rectrices are fairly long and stiff in Aptenodytes, Pygosceles, and Eudyptes, but shorter in Spheniscus, having considerably reduced vanes. On the body we find no naked tracts, but a uniform covering of small scale-like feathers, with or without barbs, and an equally uniform distribution of down both in adults and young; the moult, moreover, is accomplished in an exceptional manner, the plumage being shed in masses, and that of the wing gradually flaking off above the new coat. The process apparently occupies about ten days.[[53]] Long superciliary crests occur in Eudyptes, the mandible is more or less feathered in Aptenodytes and Pygosceles, and the metatarsi are clothed besides in A. forsteri. The furcula is U-shaped, the syrinx tracheo-bronchial, the tongue rudimentary, an after-shaft is present, and the plentiful subcutaneous fat produces a marketable oil.
Penguins[[54]] have been said to derive their name from the Latin pinguis (fat) or the English "pin-wing," i.e. pinioned wing, but such nautical appellations are usually obscure. The French term them "Manchots." These birds rest on the whole metatarsus, the bill usually pointing upwards; their gait on land is ludicrous, but often fast, a vertical position being generally preserved, while they endeavour to waddle along on their toes with constant flapping of the pinions, every now and then partially losing their balance and regaining it by the aid of their flippers. Several species are called Rock-hoppers, from their manner of hopping upon the boulders. They are, however, rarely seen on land, except in the breeding season, though equally gregarious at all times, swimming in "schools" and resorting in vast numbers to their "rookeries." When submerged, the wings act as paddles with alternating rotatory action, and the feet as rudders; but on the return to the surface the latter naturally become the propellers. The note is a croak, a scream, a murmuring sound, or, in the young, a whistle. The food of crustaceans, cephalopods, and other molluscs, is varied by fish or a little vegetable matter, and accompanied by a mass of pebbles, often ejected near the breeding places. The nest of grass and leaves–more rarely of twigs, pebbles, clay or rubbish, when herbage is scarce–may be in burrows, among tussocks, under stones, in caves, or in the open; the two coarse-flavoured eggs being white or greenish-white, with a variable amount of chalky incrustation. The male is said to assist in incubation, which lasts about six weeks; the parents sit very closely and feed the blind young for an exceptionally long period, by inserting their bill in that of the nestling. Pugnacious and thievish towards one another, Penguins are usually fearless on land, though, when they are irritated, the beak can inflict a very severe bite.
The range extends southwards from the Galápagos round Cape Horn to the Falkland Islands, a few stragglers reaching Brazil; thence breeding stations are found eastwards in Tristan da Cunha, off the Cape of Good Hope, in the Crozets, Marion, and Amsterdam Islands, Kerguelen Land, and so on to the south of Australia and New Zealand, with the Antarctic regions as far as man has penetrated. The largest form is Aptenodytes forsteri, and the smallest Spheniscus minor, about 36 and 19 inches long respectively; the sexes are alike in colour, or the female may be a little duller and resemble the young. The bill and feet are usually reddish-brown, black or grey, but the latter may be whitish. The nestling in down is blackish- or yellowish-brown with white lower parts.
A. forsteri, the Emperor Penguin of Victoria Land and the adjacent seas, is blackish-grey, with white breast and belly and an oval yellow spot on each side of the head. It is particularly tame, and moves at a marvellous rate by lying on the snow and propelling itself with its feet.[[55]] A. pennanti, the King Penguin of Kerguelen Land, the Falklands, Crozets, Auckland, Macquarie, Campbell, and other southern islands, apparently confounded with the last-named under the title of A. patagonica, is distinguishable by the longer bill, more orange chest, and lack of feathers on the sides of the mandible and metatarsus. The crowded breeding grounds are flat spaces of hard soil covered with slime, and are often quite apart from the general quarters. When disturbed the birds utter a loud "urr-urr-urr," and run to the sea at a great pace, maintaining an upright position; while they pass to and from the water singly, and not in flocks, as do other species.[[56]] The pyriform eggs are sometimes held up by the parents' feet. Pygosceles taeniata, the "Gentoo," of similar but more restricted range, is bluish-black above and on the throat, having the lower parts, the margins of the flippers, and a band across the crown white. Dense colonies are found both near the sea and several miles inland, a regular path being often beaten down by the birds traversing it in company; the nests consist of a little herbage in a hollow, or are small conical mounds of stones and clay, lined with feathers and down, the oval eggs being frequently of unequal size. The note is an unmelodious bark.[[57]] P. adeliae inhabits the icy regions of the far south.