DQS GREAT AUK. 



to the St. Kilda group, has collected strong evidence that about 

 1840 a bird was secured on the grassy slopes of Stack-an-Armin, 

 and was killed three days afterwards as a witch, in consequence 

 of a storm which frightened its captors. Remains have been found 

 in Caithness, Argyllshire, some old sea-caves in Durham, and 

 latterly in several districts of Ireland, especially near Waterford ; 

 also, abundantly, in Denmark. 



Nowhere was the Great Auk so abundant as round Newfound- 

 land, and particularly on Funk Island, where numerous bones 

 and even natural mummies have been found, as well as the remains 

 of the rude stone enclosures or ' pounds' into which — between the 

 sixteenth and eighteenth centuries — the birds used to be driven by 

 French and other fishermen, who afterwards salted them down for 

 food. The " Penguin " or " Pin-wing," as it was called, also 

 frequented the coast of Labrador, and was recorded by Catesby from 

 the waters of Carolina in winter. Passing northwards, there is no 

 proof that the Great Auk has been obtained within the Arctic 

 circle ; or even above 65° 20', on some islands near the east coast 

 of Greenland, now blocked by drift ice. Off the south-west of 

 Iceland, which has furnished the majority of the skins and eggs 

 existing in collections, there were three skerries on which it appears 

 to have bred ; one of these — the Geirfugla-sker, near Reykjanes — 

 disappeared during a submarine eruption in 1830, after the colony 

 on it had been nearly extirpated ; Eldey or the Meal-sack was 

 systematically robbed until the last two birds were taken alive in 

 June 1844; and there can now be no hope that a remnant may 

 exist on the surf-encircled Geirfugla-drangr. A graphic description 

 by Professor Newton, of his researches and those of Wolley in 

 Iceland, is to be found in 'The Ibis ' for 1S61, pp. 374-399. 



The eggs resemble those of the Razorbill in general coloration, 

 but some of them exhibit a distinctly green tinge, as well as an 

 approach to the scrolling often observable in those of the Guillemot: 

 measurements 4-9 by 27 in. About seventy-two of these, and 

 seventy-nine skins or mounted birds, appear to be in existence. 

 The food is said to have consisted chiefly of fish : and the bird's 

 powers of swimming and diving have been described as remarkable. 

 The note was a low croak. 



As shown by the engraving, the bird in summer-plumage is chiefly 

 black above and white below ; Fleming's description shows that after 

 the autumn moult the throat and fore-neck became white. Length 

 32 in. ; the longest feather of the wing only 4'25 in. The incapacity 

 for flight was, of course, the main cause of the bird's extermination. 



