THE TURKEY 91 



-such as Salisbury Plain and the Sussex Downs, and it 

 lingered on in Yorkshire down to 1830. The spoonbill 

 disappeared earlier, having been exterminated toward 

 the end of the seventeenth century. 



A very interesting bird, once an inhabitant of Britain, 

 which has now become utterly extinct everywhere, is the 

 great auk. It was of about the size of a goose, but, 

 having very small wings, was quite unable to fly. Being 

 a powerful bird, with a strong bill, and a most accom- 

 plished diver, it would have continued to live on in full 

 security but for man's reckless destruction of it. Unable 

 to rise in the air and deposit its eggs in security on high 

 ledges of rock, it could only shuffle along some gentle 

 slope to lay its eggs at a safe distance above high water 

 mark. It was formerly very abundant, and hundreds of 

 auks at a time were taken off the coast of Newfoundland 

 in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. 



In 1813 the auk was abundant on the rocky islands 

 off the coast of Iceland, and in 1844 two auks were 

 caught on Eldey Island. Since then the auk has dis- 

 appeared altogether from Europe and now has vanished 

 from the whole world. About seventy-six skins and 

 nine skeletons, with sixty-eight eggs and a few bones, 

 preserved in collections, are all the relics we have of this 

 now extinct and most interesting species. 



The Labrador duck is another bird which has disappeared 

 yet more recently, as it lived on till 1852. A curious and 

 handsome starling (Fregilupus varius] has also disappeared 

 from Mauritius, a most precious skin of which has been 

 recently acquired by the British Museum (Fig. 25). The 

 name of this island will remind many of our readers 

 of its celebrated former inhabitant, the dodo, which 

 became extinct by the end of the seventeenth century. 

 An extinct bird of Madagascar has been named 



