ANIMALS RECENTLY EXTINCT. 



639 



demand less surface and more power thau a wing formed for aerial loco- 

 motion. In the case of the Great Auk this demand was met by shorten- 

 ing the outer portion of the wing, while other birds that use their wings 

 in diving obtain as far as possible the same result by only partially open- 

 ing their wings. 



The Great Auk was confined to the North Atlantic, ranging on the 

 European side from Iceland to the Bay of Biscay, and on the Amer- 

 ican from Greenland to Virginia, these localities marking the extreme 

 limits of the bird's migrations. 





4<r n 



Map 4.— Distribution of the Great Auk. The heavy, black line shows the summer habitat, and 

 the interrupted line the winter range of tire species. A, localities where specimens have been taken, 

 but where the occurrence of the bird was probably accidental. X, places where remains of the 

 Great Auk have been found in shell heaps. 



Greenland was the habitat of the Garefowl to a very limited extent, 

 and the same may be said of the coast of Norway, while the southern 

 limits given above were reached only during the winter migrations of 

 the bird. The positively known breeding-places were few in number, 

 those where the bird bred abundantly, being the Garefowl Skerries off 

 the coast of Iceland and Funk Island on the Newfoundland coast. 

 These islands, or more properly islets, were very similar in their general 

 character, being isolated rocks, lying at some distance from shore and 

 difficult of access. Of course the reason for this similarity is apparent. 

 The Great Auk and its eggs formed desirable articles of food, and since 

 the bird was helpless on land, it was easily captured, whence it came 

 to pass at an early date that the bird was exterminated at all localities 

 easy of access. Another and more important factor in the extermi- 

 nation of the Auk, especially in America, is to be found in the gregarious 

 habits of the bird and its predilection for certain breeding-places. This 

 habit of the Garefowl is shown by other birds which are restricted in 

 their breeding habitat without any apparent reason, although there may 

 be some unknown cause in the nature of food-supply that might account 

 for it. A good example of this is found in the Gaunet, which, although 

 a bird of powerful flight, breeds at only three localities on the eastern 

 coast of America, and in Europe crosses the North Sea to nest in Scot- 



