NO^f-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 315 



formerly inhabited are by no means completely ex- 

 plored. This curious flightless bird used to breed on 

 the coasts of Newfoundland (especially on Funk Island) 

 and Labrador, Southern Greenland, Iceland, St. Kilda, 

 the Faroes, and possibly the coasts of Norway. 



Breeding habits : The habits of the Great Auk 

 only possess an historical interest. Unfortunately the 

 bird ceased to exist before the era dawned when the 

 habits of birds were studied minutely and in careful 

 detail, so that our information is of a general character 

 only. So far as can be gathered, the Great Auk some- 

 what closely resembled the Razorbill in its habits, due 

 allowance being made for its flightless condition. It 

 was a gregarious bird, and appeared to breed in colonies, 

 or in scattered pairs amongst its more flourishing 

 congeners. Its breeding places were on such rocks that 

 could be reached without the aid of wings, sloping to 

 the water, and consequently in many places further 

 inland than the Razorbill selected. Whether the Great 

 Auk made a nest is not known, but the probabilities 

 are against it. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The Great Auk is presumed to have laid only one Qgg 

 each season, for Martin quaintly says of the bird at St. 

 Kilda, "he flyeth not at all, lays his {sic) Qgg upon the 

 bare rock, which, if taken away, he lays no more for 

 that year." Only about seventy eggs of this bird are 

 known to exist. I have examined perhaps half-a-dozen 

 of the eggs themselves, and about a dozen carefully- 

 painted models. They resemble the common type of 

 Razorbill's eggs, being pyriform, rough in texture, 

 yellowish-white or pale brown in ground colour, blotched 

 and spotted with brown of various shades, sometimes 

 almost black in hue, and with underlying markings of 

 paler brown and gray. One type has the blotches 



