212 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



were then easily killed, and their feathers removed by immersing the birds 

 in scalding water, which was ready at hand in large kettles set for this purpose. 

 The bodies were used as fuel for boiling the water. 



The remains of the huts and pounds are still on the island, but 

 the birds are no more! The quantity of great auk's bones and even 

 of mummified remains found on Funk Island by Lucas and others 

 all testify to the destruction that went on there. 



It would seem as if nature herself wished to help in the destruc- 

 tion of this bird, for, in 1830, a submarine eruption took place off 

 Reykjanes, Iceland, during which a skerry frequented by great auks 

 sank under water. 



As in the case of many species that have become extinct, men at 

 the time have not realized the fact. Thus, in 1848, Hugh Strickland 

 makes no mention of the great auk in a paper on species recently 

 extinct. Yarrell in 1842 speaks of it as "a very rare British bird," 

 but no hint is given of its probable fate. When the fact of its 

 extreme rarity was discovered, it was believed that it had merely 

 retreated into the more inaccessible northern regions and Arctic 

 expeditions were requested to search for it. 



Nesting. As has been pointed out by Lucas (1887) the gregarious 

 habits of the great auk and its predilection for certain breeding 

 places has been an important factor in its extermination. He goes 

 on to say that there were apparently plenty of suitable breeding 

 grounds for the great auk in Maine and Labrador, and had the bird 

 bred in small colonies at localities scattered along this wide expanse 

 of territory, it would have been in existence to-day. The habits of 

 the great auk are largely matters of history to be gathered from old 

 writers. It bred in colonies on rocky islands as has already been 

 shown; and possibly, although not probably, on sandy shores. No 

 nest was built, and the single egg was laid on the bare rock or the 

 accumulation of guano. Pennant (1765) says: 



If the egg is taken away it will not lay another that season * * * It lays 

 its egg close to the sea mark, being incapable, by reason of the shortness of its 

 wings, to mount higher. 



The latter statement is not entirely correct for the bird, as at Funk 

 Island, already described, often nested a considerable distance from 

 the water. 



Eggs. [Author's note: The series of 10 eggs of this extinct bird 

 in the Thayer Museum is probably the finest series of these rare 

 eggs in existence in any one collection. In shape they are nearly 

 "ovate pyriform" and suggest in general appearance large murre's 

 eggs. The shell is thick, tough and roughly granulated. The 

 ground color is dull, dirty white or even yellowish white in one. 

 This yellowish egg is covered quite uniformly with fine scrawls or 

 irregular lines of pale gray or drab. The other eggs are more conspic- 



