GREAT AUK. 361 



Habits. — This very remarkable bird is an inhabitant of 

 the arctic seas, and in its habits resembles the Razorbill and 

 Guillemots ; but its history has not been satisfactorily traced, 

 and of its distribution we know only that it extends from the 

 extreme north to the Orkney Islands and St. Kilda, a few, 

 however, having been seen as far south as Devonshire and 

 Waterford. It appears to be gradually diminishing in 

 numbers, and is generally considered as a very scarce bird. 

 It is certainly so as British, for not more than ten indi- 

 viduals are alluded to as having occurred in our seas. " One 

 was seen off Fair Isle in June 1798. A pair bred in Papa 

 Westra for several years." " The natives of the Orknies," 

 says Montagu, " informed Mr. Bullock, in his late tour 

 through those islands (in 1813), that one male only had 

 made his appearance for a long time, which had regularly 

 visited Papa Westra for several years. The female (which 

 the natives called the Queen of the Auks) was killed just 

 before Mr. Bullock's arrival. The King, or male, Mr. 

 Bullock had the pleasure of chasing, for several hours, in a 

 six-oared boat, but without being able to kill him ; for, 

 though he frequently got near him, so expert was the bird 

 in its natural element, that it appeared impossible to shoot 

 him. The rapidity with which he pursued his course under 

 water was almost incredible " Very soon after, however, 

 the male bird was obtained and sent to Mr. Bullock, at the 

 sale of whose collection it was purchased for the British 

 Museum, where it is still to be seen. Dr. Fleming has 

 given an account of one taken at St. Kilda, in 1822, but 

 which made its escape. Another was obtained there in 

 1829, by Mr. Murdoch M'Lellan, and presented to the late 

 Mr. Stephenson, who intended it for the Edinburgh Mu- 

 seum ; but it afterwards made its escape. One, said to have 

 been taken in a pond of fresh water, two miles from the 

 Thames, on the estate of Sir William Clayton, in Bucking- 

 hamshire, is also mentioned by Dr. Fleming, on the authority 

 of Mr. Bullock. Another, on that of Sir W. J. Hooker, is 

 noticed in the Catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds ; Dr. 

 Edward Moore alludes to one found dead near Lundy 

 Island, in 1829 ; and Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, mentions 



