ALCIB^ — ALCIN^ : GREAT AUK. 



819 



Lnbriid(jr 



878. 



tarsus 1.25 ; middle or outer toe and claw 2.00, inner 1.40 ; chord of culmen 1.30, arc 1.50 ; 

 ijape 2.25; gonys 0.75; greatest depth of bill 0.90. This auk abounds in the N. Atlantic, 

 both coasts, and parts of the Polar seas; casual in the N. Pacific; Japan. On our coast, 

 breeds in great numbers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, about Newfoundland 

 strays S. iu winter to the 

 Middle States, like other 

 Alddee. The eggs are 

 usually laid in caverns 

 and fissures of the rocks 

 along precipitous shore- 

 lines, often with those of 

 sea-pigeons and puffins ; 

 about 3.00 X scant 2.UU, 

 white with creamy or 

 mUky-bluish tint, never 

 green like those of murres, 

 spotted and blotched, but 

 not fantastically traced 

 over, with different shades 

 (if umber - brown ; less 

 pointed ; laid in June and 

 July. 



AL'CA. (Lat. from cdh 

 or aulc.) His Grace, 

 The Auk, who lost the 

 use of his wings, and per- 

 ished off the face of tlie 

 earth in consequence. 

 A. Impen'nis. (Lat. 

 impennis, wingless. Fig. 

 561.) The Great AuK. 

 Largest of the family : 

 length about 30.00 inches; 

 wing 6.00; tail 3.00; bill 

 along gape 4.25; chord Fig. 560. - Murres. 



of cuhnen 3.15; greatest depth of upper mandi])lo 1.00, of lower 0.67; greatest width of bill 

 0.67; tarsus 1.67; middle toe and claw 3.25; outer do. 3.00; inner do. 2.25. A great white 

 oval spot between eye and bill. Hood and mantle dark ; under parts white, extending in a 

 point on the throat; ends of secondaries white. Bill black, with white grooves; feet dark- 

 Special interest attaches to this bird, which is now doubtless extinct, largely through human 

 agency. It formerly inhabited this coast from Massachusetts northward, as attested by earlier 

 observers, and by the plentiful occurrence of its bones in shell-heaps; also Greenland, Iceland, 

 and the N. W. shores of Europe, to the Arctic Circle. On our shores it was apparently last 

 alive at the Funks, a small island off" the S. Coast of Newfoundland; while in Iceland, its 

 living history has been brought down to 1844. For some years, it was currently, but prema- 

 turely, reported extinct. Mr. R. Deane has recently recorded (Am. Nat. vi, 368) that a speci- 

 men was "found dead in the vicinity of St. Augustine, Labrador, in November, 1870;" this 

 one, though in poor condition, being sold for 8200, and sent to Europe. But there appears t(^ 

 be some question respecting the character, date, and disposition of this alleged individual; and 

 it seems very improbable that the species lived down to 1870. I know of only four speci- 



