Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PENGUIN

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 89 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

PENGUIN , the name of a flightless See also:

sea-See also:bird,' but, so far as is known, first given to one inhabiting the seas of Newfound-See also:land as in Hore's "Voyage to Cape See also:Breton," 1536 (See also:Hakluyt, Researches, iii. 168-17o), which subsequently became known as the See also:great See also:auk or garefowl (q.v.) ; though the See also:French See also:equivalent Pingouin2 preserves its old application, the word penguin is by See also:English ornithologists always used for certain birds inhabiting the See also:Southern Ocean, called by the French Manchots, the Spheniscidae of ornithologists. For a See also:long while their position was very much misunderstood, some systematists having placed them with the Alcidae or Auks, to which they See also:bear only a relationship of See also:analogy, as indeed had been perceived by a few ornithologists, who recognized in the penguins a very distinct See also:order, Impennes. L. Stejneger (See also:Standard Nat. Hist. vol. iv., See also:Boston, 1885) gave the Impennes See also:independent See also:rank equivalent to the See also:rest of Carinate birds; M. A. Menzbier (Vergl. Osteol. d. Penguine, See also:Moscow, 1887) took a similar view; M. Filrbringer was first to show their relation to Procellariformes, and this view is now generally accepted. ' Of the three derivations assigned to this name, the first is by See also:Drayton in 1613 (Polyolbion, See also:Song 9), where it is said to be the Welsh See also:pen See also:gwyn, or " See also:white See also:head "; the second, which seems to meet with See also:Littre's approval, deduces it from the Latin pinguis (See also:fat), which See also:idea has given origin to the See also:German name, Fettganse, for these birds; the third supposes it to be a corruption of " See also:pin-wing " (See also:Ann.

Nat. See also:

History, 4th See also:series, vol. iv. p. 133), meaning a bird that has under-gone the operation of pinioning or, as in one See also:part at least of See also:England it is commonly called, " pin-winging." The first See also:hypothesis has been supported on the ground that Breton sailors speaking a See also:language closely allied to Welsh were acquainted with the great auk, and that the conspicuous white patches on the head of that bird justified the name " white head." To the second hypothesis See also:Skeat (See also:Dictionary, p. 433) See also:objects that it " will not See also:account for the suffix -in, and is therefore wrong; besides which the ' Dutchmen ' [who were asserted to be the authors of the name] turn out to be See also:Sir See also:Francis See also:Drake " and his men. In support of the third hypothesis Mr Reeks wrote (Zoologist, and series, p. 1854) that the See also:people in See also:Newfoundland who used to meet with this bird always pronounced its name " pin wing." Skeat's inquiry (loc. cit.), whether the name may not after all be See also:South See also:American, is to be answered in the negative, since, so far as See also:evidence goes, it was given to the See also:North-American bird before the South-American was known in See also:Europe. 2 Gorfou has also been used by some French writers, being a corruption of Geirfugl or Garefowl. There is a See also:total want of quills in their wings, which are incapable of flexure, though they move freely at the See also:shoulder-See also:joint, and some at least of the See also:species occasionally make use of them for progressing on land. In the See also:water they are most efficient paddles. The plumage, which clothes the whole See also:body, generally consists of small See also:scale-like feathers, many of them consisting only of a See also:simple See also:shaft without the development of barbs; but several of the species have the head decorated with long cirrhous tufts, and in some the tail-quills, which are very numerous, are also long.1 In See also:standing these birds preserve an upright position, sometimes resting on the " See also:tarsus "2 alone, but in walking or See also:running this is kept nearly See also:vertical, and their See also:weight is supported by the toes alone. The most northerly limit of the penguins' range in the See also:Atlantic is See also:Tristan d'Acunha, and in the See also:Indian Ocean See also:Amsterdam See also:Island, but they also occur off the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope and along the See also:coast of See also:Australia, as well as on the south and See also:east of New See also:Zealand, while in the Pacific one species at least extends along the See also:west coast of South See also:America and to the Galapagos; but north of, the See also:equator none are found. In the breeding See also:season they resort to the most desolate lands in higher southern latitudes, and indeed have been met with as far to the south-See also:ward as navigators have penetrated.

Possibly the See also:

Falkland Islands are richest in species, though, as individuals, they See also:King-Penguin (A ptenodytes pennanti). are not nearly so numerous there as in many other places. The See also:food of penguins consists of crustaceans, cephalopods and other molluscs, varied by See also:fish and See also:vegetable See also:matter. The birds See also:form immense breeding colonies, known as " rookeries." The See also:nest of grass, leaves, or where vegetation is scanty of stones or rubbish, is placed on the ground or in holes. Two chalky white or greenish eggs are laid. The See also:young penguins, clad in thick down, are See also:born See also:blind and are fed by the parents for an unusually long See also:time before taking to the water. Penguins bite savagely when molested, but are easily trained and display considerable intelligence. The Spheniscidae have been divided into at least eight genera, but three, or at most four, seem to be all that are needed, and I The pterylographical characters of the penguins are well described by A. See also:Hyatt (Proc. Boston See also:Soc. Nat. History, 1871).

A. D. See also:

Bartlett has observed (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1879, pp. 6-9) that, instead of moulting in the way that birds ordinarily do, penguins, at least in passing from the immature to the adult See also:dress, See also:cast off the See also:short scale-like feathers from their wings in a manner that he compares to " the shedding of the skin in a See also:serpent." 2 The three metatarsals in the penguins are not, as in other birds, See also:united for the whole of their length, but only at the extremities, thus preserving a portion of their originally distinct existence, a fact probably attributable to See also:arrest of development, since the researches of C. See also:Gegenbaur show that the embryos of all birds, so far as is known, possess these bones in an independent See also:condition.three can be well distinguished, as pointed out by E. See also:Coues in Proc. Acad. of Nat. Sci. of See also:Philadelphia, 1872 (pp. 170—212), by anatomical as well as by See also:external characters. They are: (1) Aptenodytes, easily recognized by its long and thin See also:bill, slightly decurved, from which Pygoscelis, as M.

See also:

Watson has shown, is hardly distinguishable; (2) Eudyptes, in which the bill is much shorter and rather broad; and (3) Spheniscus, in which the shortish bill is compressed and the maxilla ends in a conspicuous See also:hook. Aptenodytes contains the largest species, among them those known as the " See also:Emperor " and " King " penguins A. patagonica and A. longirostris. Three others belong also to this genus, if Pygoscelis be not recognized, but they seem not to require any particular remark. Eudyptes, containing the crested penguins, known to sailors as " See also:Rock-hoppers " or " Macaronis," would appear to have five species, and Spheniscus four, among which S. mendiculus, which occurs in the Galapagos, and therefore has the most northerly range of the whole See also:group, alone needs See also:notice here. (A. N.) The generic and specific See also:distribution of the penguins is the subject of an excellent See also:essay by See also:Alphonse Milne-See also:Edwards in the Annales See also:des sciences naturelles for 188o (vol. ix. See also:art. 9, pp. 23—81); see also the Records of the See also:Antarctic Expedition, 1901—1904.

End of Article: PENGUIN

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PENGELLY, WILLIAM (1812-1894) 		[next]
PENHALLOW, SAMUEL (1665—1726)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries