THE DIVING BIRDS. 277 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE DIVING BIRDS. 



THIS group consists of the Auks, Murres, Guil- 

 lemots, Auklets, Puffins, Loons, and Grebes. 

 Of the five subgroups mentioned in order, none be- 

 long inland, but of course " stragglers" of some of 

 them have been carried inland, and so swell the lists 

 of birds found in such and such a locality. The 

 loons and grebes, on the other hand, are quite at 

 home in fresh water, and add no little to the charm 

 of many a watery waste that is now pretty closely 

 shorn of the features designed for it by Nature. 



The Great Auk is extinct. Nature had nothing to 

 do with its destruction. Comment is unnecessary. 

 The Little Auk survives and seems equal to holding 

 its own, the odds not being so decidedly against it. 

 In winter they come as far south as the New Jersey 

 coast. The late Dr. Lockwood has given an amusing 

 account of one of these birds that was kept for some 

 time in confinement. It was one of many that in the 

 winter of 1877 not only appeared upon the coast, but 

 came inland. " They were so gentle and unsuspi- 

 cious, and so comical, for on the land their gait was 

 a tipsy waddle." One was picked up six miles from 

 sea, and entirely beyond tidal reach. It was ill at 

 ease in the air of a close room, standing upright on 

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