aptenodytes

[(1) Gr. ἀπτήν (aptên) = (1) unfledged, (2) unable to fly: a, priv., and πτηνός ( ptēnos ) = feathered, winged; πτῆναι (ptēnai), aor. inf. of πέτομαι ( petomai ) = to fly: (2) δύτης ( dutes ) = a diver; δύω (duō) = to enter, to plunge into.] Ornith.: A genus of swimming birds, cla ed by some under the family Alcidæ, and by others under that of Spheniscidæ. It contains the penguins of the Southern hemisphere. Their wings are rudimentary, with only vestiges of feathers, and their feet so far behind that when on shore they have to sit or stand bolt upright. When pursued, however, they can manage to make way quickly by using their wings as an anterior pair of legs. The water is their natural element, in which they live, and they move in it with much agility. Example, A. Pat agonic a, a species as large as a goose, seen standing in large flocks on barren shores near the Straits of Magellan, and here and there as far as New Guinea.