682 GREAT AUK. 



Kilda group, has collected strong evidence that about 1840 a bird 

 was secured on the grassy slopes of Stack-an-Armin ; being killed three 

 days afterwards as a witch, in consequence of a storm which fright- 

 ened its captors. Remains have been found in Caithness, Argyll- 

 shire, and some old sea-caves in Durham. 



Nowhere was the Great Auk so abundant as in the neighbourhood 

 of Newfoundland — especially 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 (probably from 

 the shortness of its wings and not from pinguis, fat), 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 fur- 

 nished the majority of the skins and eggs existing in collections, 

 there were three skerries where it appears to have bred ; one of 

 these — the Geirfuglasker, 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 two last birds were taken alive in June 1844; and there can 

 now be little hope that a remnant has taken refuge on the surf- 

 encircled Geirfugladrangr. A graphic description by Professor 

 Newton, of his researches and those of Wolley in Iceland, is to be 

 found in 'The Ibis ' for 1861, pp. 374-399. 



The eggs resemble those of the Razor-bill in general coloration, 

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

 approach to the scrolling observable in those of the Guillemot : 

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

 seventy-seven 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. It is, of course, 

 the incapacity for flight which has been the main cause of the 

 destruction of this species. 



