208 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



Labrador, New Brunswick (Grand Manan), and Ontario (Toronto, 

 Hamilton and western Lake Ontario) south to New York (Long 

 Island) and New Jersey. Rarely or casually to Virginia (Cobbs 

 Island and Smiths Island) and North Carolina (Lookout Cove). 

 No records for Great Lakes west of Lake Ontario. Michigan records 

 discredited. In Europe from the British Isles and Baltic Sea south 

 to the Mediterranean Sea and the Azores and Canary Islands; east 

 to the Adriatic Sea. 



Spring migration. Northward along the coast in March and 

 April. New York: Long Island, March 5. Rhode Island: Newport, 

 April 10 (latest). Massachusetts: Marthas Vineyard, May 12 (lat- 

 est). Nova Scotia: Cape Sable, May 4. Arrive on breeding grounds, 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, about April 15. 



Fall migration. Southward along the coast during November 

 (perhaps earlier). Massachusetts: November 1. New York: Long 

 Island, November 14. New Jersey: Delaware River, November. 

 Virginia: Norfolk, October 15. 



Egg dates. Gulf of St. Lawrence: 76 records, June 10 to July 25; 

 38 records, June 21 to July 4. Great Britain: 24 records, May 17, to 

 June 30; 12 records, May 28, to June 5. Ungava: 2 records, June 13, 

 to July 1. Bay of Fundy: 2 records, June 11, to 17. 



Plautus impennis (Linnaeus) 

 GREAT AUK 



HABITS 



Contributed by Charles Wendell Townsend 



The great auk is extinct. So thoroughly and suddenly did its ex- 

 tinction come about that at one time the bird was considered to be a 

 myth, yet a comparatively few years ago it existed in great numbers. 

 The date of its final taking off, the cause of its disappearance, former 

 abundance, distribution, and habits are all matters of exceeding inter- 

 est, about which much has been culled by diligent searchers from 

 various historical and traditional sources as well as from investiga- 

 tion of the remains of these birds found at their breeding places and 

 in shell heaps. To Alfred Newton, J. Steenstrup, Symington Grieve, 

 and Frederic A. Lucas we owe most of our knowledge of this inter- 

 esting bird, and their writings will be freely drawn upon in the 

 present epitome. 



Nuttall (1834) forcibly illustrates the erroneous opinions that ex- 

 isted and still exists in the popular mind as to the range of this bird. 

 He says: 



The great auk, or northern penguin, inhabits the highest latitudes of the 

 globe, dwelling by choice and instinct amidst the horrors of a region covered 



