96 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



times it was practically safe in its natural element 

 the sea. Regrets are useless now ; and when the 

 few relics that are in existence have mouldered 

 away, the Great Auk will fade from our memories, 

 live but as a tradition, and finally perhaps as a 

 legend or a myth ! 



Notwithstanding the former abundance of the 

 Great Auk, and its comparatively recent final dis- 

 appearance, but very little indeed is known respect- 

 ing its habits. These, there can be little doubt, 

 were very similar to those of its surviving allies, 

 especially of the Razorbill, its nearest living 

 relation. We know that it was an accomplished 

 diver, we also know that it lived on fish ; but of 

 its notes, its nesting habits, its migrations, and the 

 like, history is silent, and records are wanting. 

 The breeding-places of this species were flat rocks 

 that sloped gently to the sea, and the single egg 

 was, it is presumed, laid nestless on the ground. 

 This egg runs through similar variations to those 

 of the Razorbill, but is, of course, double the size. 

 The number of eggs at present known to exist is 

 seventy-one. There are also seventy-seven skins of 

 the Great Auk in various collections, together with 

 many more or less complete skeletons and large 

 numbers of odd bones. 



