112 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



week, to the aggregate amount of O'li of an inch. 

 The duration of registered bright sunshine in the 

 week was 21*5 hours against 13*4 hours at Glynde 

 Place, Lewes. 



The average rainfall for May is 1 in. for the whole 

 of the east coast and a great part of the south coast, 

 and 2 in. for the whole of the west coast and a 

 portion of the south-east coast by the North Foreland, 

 while it reaches 3 in. in a few places in Cornwall, 

 North Wales and the English lake district. 



THE STORY OF THE GREAT AUK. 



EIGHTY years ago a boat's crew landing on an 

 island lying off Reykjanes, on the coast of 

 Iceland, chased, killed, and ate the great auk to its 

 heart's content. So recklessly did the sailors go to 

 work that they indiscriminately trod underfoot in- 

 numerable eggs and also a vast number of young 

 birds. 



So abundant was the great auk at that time that 

 no one then could ever have dreamed that in less 

 than a century it would follow in the footsteps of 

 the dodo, the apteryx, and the solitaire, and 

 become an extinct and almost mythological creature. 

 Still less can we suppose that any one of the " Sala- 

 mine's " crew could have deemed it possible that the 

 eggs which he so remorselessly crushed would one 

 day attain such a value that ,£225 would be paid for 

 a single specimen. Yet such things are facts. The 

 bird has been improved off the face of the earth. It 

 no longer exists — a few stuffed specimens — a jar or 

 so of spirits encasing its remains, a few bones, and 

 less than seventy eggs, alone bear witness to the 

 fact that the great auk once dwelt among us. 



With only seventy eggs in existence, and no further 

 supply forthcoming, it may not seem so surprising 

 that on the 12th day of the month of March last Mr. 

 Stevens, of King Street, Covent Garden, should be 

 able to sell a very fine egg of the great auk for £225. 

 As an instance of the rapidly increasing value of this 

 specimen it has been stated that it had been in the 

 possession of its late owner since 1851, when it was 

 purchased for ,£18. 



No egg of any kind has ever realised so large a 

 sum as that fetched at the recent sale, although a 

 similar relic of the great auk changed hands in 

 December last for .£168. 



The great auk belonged to the genus of web-footed 

 birds called auk (alca) the type of a family named 

 Alcadse. The members of this family are remarkable 

 for the shortness of their wings, which they employ as 

 fins or paddles for swimming under water — some 

 being even incapable of flying, and for the position 

 of their legs further backward than in other birds, 

 which makes walking difficult, and compels them 

 when on land to maintain an upright attitude. They 

 are distinguished by the very compressed bill, which 



in the true auks is vertically elevated, and so sharp 

 along the ridge as to resemble the blade of a knife ; 

 and by their entirely graduated feet, destitute of hind 

 toes. The auks are entirely confined to the seas of 

 the northern hemisphere (the penguins taking their 

 place in the southern) and are most abundant in the 

 cooler regions. All of them have a dense plumage, 

 which generally exhibits on its surface a beautifully 

 polished appearance and silvery lustre. 



The great auk, now extinct, in size as large as a 

 goose, was strictly an oceanic bird, rarely leaving 

 the water ; but when sojourning on land usually 

 selecting the spots most inaccessible to man. Its 

 winter plumage appeared in autumn, when its 

 cheeks, throat, forepart, and sides of neck were 

 white. Its summer plumage commenced to appear 

 in the spring, when the white on the head became 

 confined to a large patch which extended in front 

 and round the eyes ; the rest of the head, neck, and 

 upper plumage was of a deep black. It has been 

 said that this bird was deprived of the power of 

 flight, not from any peculiarity in the structure of 

 the wings and feathers, but simply on account of 

 their diminutive size. This, however, appears to be 

 an incorrect statement, inasmuch as Professor Owen 

 has declared, ' ' The proportion in which the skeleton 

 [of birds] is permeated by air varies. In Alca 

 impennis {i.e. the great auk), the penguin and the 

 apteryx, air is not admitted into any of the bones. 

 The condition of the osseous system, therefore, 

 which all birds present at early periods of their 

 existence, is here retained through life." Hence 

 we see that their wings did possess a peculiarity of 

 structure, fitting them for paddling purposes rather 

 than for flight. 



It was formerly an inhabitant of Newfoundland, 

 Labrador, and Iceland, and a somewhat rare visitant, 

 at least of late years, of Norway and Sweden, and of 

 the Orkney, Shetland, and Hebrides Islands. To 

 compensate it for its inability to fly it was enabled, 

 as we have seen, to move with great rapidity under 

 water. Thus it is related how, in 1812, Mr. 

 Bullock chased one of these birds in the Orkneys in 

 a boat manned with six oars, and although every 

 effort was used to capture it, the bird outstripped its 

 pursuers and escaped. This was one of two birds 

 which for some time had been seen in the neighbour- 

 hood, and was well known to the people as the king 

 as the other was as the queen of the auks. 



It was killed a fortnight afterwards, and came into 

 the possession of the authorities at the British 

 Museum. 



In common with most of the Alcadce, the great 

 auk laid only one egg, and this upon the bare rock, 

 without any attempt at a nest. The eggs varied in 

 size ; thus of four in the possession of one collector 

 the sizes were as follows : — (1) 5 inches, by 2 inches 

 \o\ lines ; weight, 31 scruples 10 drams. (2) 4 inches 

 \dh lines, by 2 inches 113 lines ; weight, 41 scruples 



