280 LiCAS, Notes on the Great Auk. [July 



likely to have been the spot alliuled to by Captain Richard 

 Whitbonrne. althoiij^h all attempts to definitely locate it must 

 necessarily be pure guess work. 



Certainl)' if tlie Garefowl dwelt here, he left no trace of former 

 residence, for not a bone nor a speck of eggshell came to light 

 in making a dozen excavations to the bed rock. 



This is in marked contrast to the state of aflairs at Funk 

 Island, where bones can readily be found, and where the soil 

 itself, thickly sprinkled with crumbled eggshells, bears mute 

 testimony to long years of occupancy by the Great Auk. 



The soil of Funk Island, by the way, is frozen for only a part 

 of the year, and the statement that a mummy of the Greak Auk 

 was taken '■'from under ice which never melts" was doubtless 

 made from a misapprehension of the facts in the case, for 

 although floe ice is driven upon some portions of the island it 

 n^ver reaches those places where the Auk remains lie buried, 

 and never endures into the summer months. 



Today Penguin Islands are overun by a colony of field mice 

 {Arvicola riparia), whose burrows exist in almost incredible 

 numbers, while their well worn connecting paths cover the 

 ground in places with a veritable net work. Sundry boluses of 

 matted fur and bones bore witness to the occasional disturbance 

 of this populous mousery by the visits of Owls. 



A little investigation showed that many burrows, having been 

 deserted by their original occupants, the mice, had been taken 

 possession of by Leach's Petrels, and the occurrence of perfectly 

 fresh eggs on the 34th of July, coupled with the fact that well 

 advanced embryos were found at the Bird Rocks on July 9, 

 suggests that possibly this little bird raises two broods in a 

 season. 



A few Puffins were also found on the island, but none of the 

 many busy little excavators seemed to have met with better 

 success than ourselves in finding bones, for none lay scattered 

 about the entrance to their burrows (as was the case at Funk 

 Island), and if indications may be relied on the former occur- 

 rence of the Great Auk on these Penguin Islands in any con- 

 siderable numbers must be looked upon as somewhat doubtful. 



Another doubtful habitat is found in the Bird Rocks of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, for although the Auks may have strayed 

 thither from the colony at Penguin Island, ofl' Cape la Hune, they 



