The Bill Is As Long As That Of A
Raven, But Not So Crooked; The Neck Short And Thick, And The Body As
Long As That Of A Goose, But Not So Thick.
Instead of wings, they have
only two fins or pinions, covered with feathers, which hang down as they
walk upright, and by means of which they swim with great strength.
They
have black feet, like those of a goose, and they walk upright, with
their fins or pinions hanging down like the arms of a man, so that when
seen at a distance they look like so many pigmies. They seldom come
ashore except in the breeding season, and then they nestle together,
three or four in one hole, which they dig in the downs as deep as those
of rabbits, and the ground is so full of them, that one is liable almost
at every step to sink into them up to the knees. They feed entirely on
fish, yet their flesh has not that rank fishy taste which is so common
in sea-fowl, but is extraordinarily well tasted. Penguin, the name of
this bird, is not derived from the Latin pinguedo, fatness, as the
Dutch author of this voyage would have it, and therefore spells the word
pinguin. Neither is the conjecture of the French editor of this voyage
better founded, who supposes they were so called by the English from a
Welsh word signifying white-head; and from which it has been argued
that these savages are descended from a colony of Britons, supposed to
have settled in America, about the year 1170, under Madoc, prince of
North Wales.
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