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BIRDS OF AMERICA 



AUKS, MURRES, AND PUFFINS 



Order Pygopodes; suborder Cepphi; family Alcida 



T is a curious and interesting fact that at opposite ends of the earth there 

 should be forms of bird-life which, though entirely unrelated and differing 

 from each other even in the signal respect that one is equipped with wings and 

 uses them, while the other is flightless, nevertheless present similar and some- 

 what grotesque physical peculiarities, and much similarity in their habits. 

 These birds are the Auks of the Arctic and the Penguins of the Antarctic regions, 

 and their external similarity lies in the fact that in both the legs are set so far 

 back on the body that the birds assume a man-like posture, and are clumsy 

 and uncouth in their appearance on shore. In the water both are expert 

 swimmers and divers, though here again they differ in that the Auks use their 

 feet in swimming, whereas the Penguins swim entirely with their wings, and 

 use their feet only in steering their course. 



The Auks, Murres, and Puffins include diving Arctic sea-birds grouped under the 

 scientific name Alcida, and embracing about a dozen genera and some thirty species. All 

 members of the family are essentially birds of the Arctic regions, and are especially numerous 

 on the Alaskan and Siberian coasts. Though the Auks resemble the Penguins superficially 

 and in their habits, anatomically their nearest relatives are the Loons and Grebes. From 

 the Loons, however, they differ in lacking a hind toe, and from the Grebes in the possession 

 of a well-developed tail. 



Photo by W. L. Fmley and H. T. Bohlman 



TUFTED PUFFIN ON NEST 

 Burrow unearthed 



