GETTING FOOD FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA 271 



existing species are black above an<l white below. The beaks 

 show but little tendency to the sportive flattening so char- 

 acteristic of the puffins. 



These birds arc very strong divers, and gel a greal portion 

 of their food from the bottom of the sea. The two species 

 found all along our Pacific coast, on the Parallone [slands and 

 Santa Catalina, are the Rhinoceros Anklet 1 (14 inches long . 

 and the Cassin Auklet, the former so called because of an 

 erect hornv shield at the base of its beak. The Least AukleP 

 is only 63^ inches long — about the bulk of a small, thinly 

 feathered screech owl. 



The Razok-Billed Auk, 3 of the North Atlantic Ocean, 

 sometimes wanders in summer to the coast of Maine, and in 

 winter even migrates as far south as New Jersey. Robert 

 Ridgway.) It is 17 inches long, and is the largest living mem- 

 ber of the group of auks. As might be expected, it is a dis- 

 tinguished resident of the Bird Rocks. 



The Great Air is now a bird of history and museums 

 only. It met its fate on Funk Island, a treeless dot in the 

 sea, about thirty miles northwest of Newfoundland, which was 

 the first land met with as the Auks swam southward on their 

 annual migrations. The wings of this bird were so little 

 developed that it was wholly unable to fly. and while on land 

 it was any one's prey. 



The thousands of Great Auks that visited Funk Island 



naturally attracted men who wished to turn them to account. 



Whalemen were landed, and left there to kill Auks for their 



feathers and oil. The birds were either driven into pens 



1 Cer-o-rhin'ca mo-no-cer-a'ta. Sim-o-rhyn'ckus pusil'lus. I '•</■'-/</. 



