324 



THE NATURALIST. 



posits. The residuary bones dis- 

 covered in the shell-mounds of 

 Caithness have been satisfactorily 

 identified by Professor Owen, as 

 belonging to the Alca impennis, and 

 which form the first direct evidences 

 of specimens of the bird having been 

 taken on our northern coasts. Or- 

 nithologists now, in their future 

 classifications, may hesitate no 

 longer in including the Alca impen- 

 nis as a genuine old British bird, 

 though an inhabitant, probably, of 

 our northern rock-bound coasts, at 

 some period anterior to the Roman 

 occupation. Professor Owen con- 

 cludes that, from the presence of 

 bones of the Great Auk among the 

 remains of the ancient Caithness 

 people, the bird is clearly proved to 

 be entitled to a place in the records 

 of our British birds. As may be 

 supposed, from the extreme limits 

 to which, in the Arctic regions, it is 

 now principally confined, our ac- 

 quaintance with its habits and eco- 

 nomy is extremely imperfect. The 

 northern latitudes are more con- 

 genial to the habits and ichthyolo- 

 gical predilections of the Great Auk, 

 to which they afford a wider and 

 more extended sphere, than our 

 own and adjacent climates. The 

 wings are but partially developed, 

 and incapable of sustaining it in 

 serial locomotion, thus necessitating 

 the adoption of an aqueous mode 

 of existence, for which in other 



respects it is admirably adapted. 

 The most northern limitation of 

 the Great Auk is unknown, for so 

 far, however, as our most intrepid 

 Arctic explorers have penetrated, 

 there the Auk has always been seen. 

 It is rarely seen on shore except 

 during the breeding season. The 

 Little Auk {Uria alle) is one of 

 the hardiest and most diminutive 

 of the Auk tribe, and is met with in 

 the locality of Baffin's Bay and 

 Melville Island, in large flocks, 

 where they appear to enjoy the in- 

 clemency of the climate as much 

 as their human companions the 

 Esquimaux. In Greenland and 

 Spitzbergen they s^varm in count- 

 less numbers, watching for the 

 breaking up and dispersion of the 

 great icefields, when they search 

 for Crustacea in the fissures of the 

 broken and dissolving ice. They 

 very rarely pay a visit to this coun- 

 try, indeed, those that have been 

 seen are more probably impelled by 

 the violence of Arctic storms, than 

 as visitants in search of a resting 

 stage for the season. Another 

 species which is found also in the 

 northern regions is the Eazor-billed 

 Auk (Alca tordaj, but which, unlike 

 its congeners the Great and Little 

 Auks, is a frequenter of warmer 

 latitudes and more temperate climes, 

 including the sea-boards of France, 

 Holland, Germany, and Great 

 Britain. The Alca torda is very 



