The Great Auk. 



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THE GREAT AUK, (Alca impennis,) 



WHICH is sometimes called the Northern Penguin, is a 

 large bird, furnished with very small wings, which, 

 although formed of regular feathers, like those of other 

 birds, are far too weak to raise their owner into the air. 

 They are, however, of use in another way. When the 

 Auk dives, which it frequently does, they serve as fins, 

 and, with its powerful webbed feet, enable it to swim un- 

 derneath the water with even greater rapidity than on 

 the surface. This bird was formerly seen occasionally 

 on the northern coasts of Britain, and became more 

 plentiful towards the Arctic seas ; but no specimens 

 have now been met with for many years, and there 

 is reason to believe that the bird is quite extinct on 

 our coasts. In the water the Great Auk, like the Diver, 

 is wonderfully active, swimming on the surface or 

 beneath the waves with equal ease. Mr. Bullock, when 

 in the Orkneys, pursued a male bird for several hours 

 in a six-oared boat without being able to kill him. 



The Great Auk is generally about three feet long, and 

 changes its plumage in summer. The breeding-season 

 is in June and July, when the female la} r s one large 

 egg, of a yellowish colour, marked with black spots. 



