88 THE STORY OF THE BIRDS 



extinct Great Auk or Gare Fowl was the largest 

 known representative, as big as a Goose, but 

 incapable of flight), Guillemots, and Puffins, 

 numbering some thirty species. Now that the 

 Great Auk is gone, the members of the present 

 order are all comparatively small birds, ranging 

 from about the size of a small Duck to that 

 of a Thrush. They are web-footed, the anterior 

 toes being united by a membrane ; the meta- 

 tarsus is short, and the legs are placed so far 

 backward as to render their gait clumsy. But 

 this is compensated by their exceptional 

 swimming and diving powers, all the members 

 of the order being as active in the water as 

 the fishes themselves. The wings are short 

 and narrow, nevertheless the birds fly well 

 and rapidly, sometimes for long distances ; the 

 tail is short, either rounded or graduated. In 

 some forms (the Puffins) the eyes are decorated 

 with horny growths, and rosettes of skin are 

 displayed about the mouth ; whilst nuptial 

 plumes, often of a most eccentric character, 

 ornament the head during the pairing season. 

 Small as this order is, the birds composing it 

 present an extraordinary amount of variation 

 in the form of the bill. First we have the 

 long pointed bill of the Guillemots, then the 



