30 



GREAT AUK 

 33. Plautus impennis. 29 inches. 



This largest of the auks lived, as far as we have 

 authentic record, until 1844, when it became extinct, 

 largely through the agency of man. Although nearly 

 t vice as long a bird as the Razor-billed Auk, their wings 

 \\ere shorter than those of that bird, being only a trifle 

 1 nger than those of the little Dovekie; they were flight- 

 1 ss, but the wings were used to good advantage in swim- 

 i ing. Being in the direct line of travel between the 

 old world and the new, sailors, on passing vessels, killed 

 countless numbers of them for food, and in some cases 

 merely for the love of slaughter. They lived on coasts 

 and islands of the Atlantic from Mass., northwards. 

 There are about seventy mounted birds preserved, of 

 | which five or six, as well as some skeletons, are in this 

 country. 



Their eggs resemble those of the Razor-bill but, of 

 course, are much larger ( 5.00 x 3.00 ) . About 70 of 

 these are in existence, six being in this country (Wash- 

 ington, Phi la., and four recently purchased by John E. 

 Thayer, of Lancaster, Mass.). 



