210 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



south as Florida. At Ormond, on the Halifax River in Florida, two 

 left humeri of this species were found. In the shell heaps of the 

 Massachusetts coast the bones of the great auk have several times 

 been found, at Marblehead, Ipswich, and Plum Island. I have my- 

 self found them at Mount Desert Island, Maine. 



On the eastern side of the Atlantic one comes first to Iceland, 

 which was probably the last stronghold of this bird. Here are to be 

 found numerous rocky islands or skerries where the great auk un- 

 doubtedly bred. Several of these bear the name of the extinct bird, 

 and are called Geirfuglasker. Eldey, or Fire Island, where the last 

 birds were taken, is one of a chain of volcanic Bird Islands (Fug- 

 lasker) lying off Cape Reykjanes, the southwestern point of Iceland. 

 At a few places in the British Isles remains of this bird have been 

 found and there are historic references to their occurrence at St. 

 Kilda, the Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland, and Faroe Islands and at 

 Waterford and Belfast, Ireland. At the Scottish Islands they prob- 

 ably bred. In the shell heaps or kitchen middens of Denmark re- 

 mains of this bird have been found, and there are traditions of its 

 existence in this region. There is some evidence of its occurrence 

 on the coast of Norway and it probably migrated all along the Euro- 

 pean coast as far as the Bay of Biscay. The last of these birds, 

 two individuals, were taken alive on June 3, 1844, at Eldey, a skerry 

 or rocky islet off the southwest point of Iceland. Their viscera are 

 now preserved in the Royal University Museum, Copenhagen, but 

 it is not known what became of the skins and bones. The narrative 

 by Grieve (1885) of this capture is of such a tragically historic 

 character, it is quoted here: 



As the men clambered up they saw two garefowls sitting among numberless 

 other rock-birds (Uria troile and Alca tor da), and at once gave chase. The 

 garefowls showed not the slightest disposition to repel the invaders, but imme- 

 diately ran along under the high cliff, their heads erect, their little wings some- 

 what extended. They uttered no cry of alarm, and moved, with their short 

 steps, about as quickly as a man could walk. Jon (Brandsson) with out- 

 stretched arms, drove one into a corner, where he soon had it fast. Siguror 

 (Islefsson) and Ketil pursued the second, and the former seized it close to 

 the edge of the rock here risen to a precipice some fathoms high, the water 

 being directly below it. Ketil (Ketilsm) then returned to the sloping shelf 

 whence the birds had started, and saw an egg lying on the lava slab, which 

 he knew to be a garefowl's. Whether there was not another egg is uncertain. 

 All this took place in much less time than it takes to tell it. 



This date, June 3, 1844, is probably the last authentic date. A live 

 bird was said to have been seen on the Newfoundland Banks in 

 December, 1852, and a dead one to have been picked up in Trinity 

 Bay, Newfoundland, in 1853, but these records are considered of 

 doubtful authenticity by Grieve (1885). 



The fundamental cause of the extinction of the great auk was the 



