258 THE BIRDS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC 



as well as above the water, the great auk was indeed particularly well adapted 

 both for swimming and diving. The resistance of the water being so much greater 

 than that of the air, wings employed for swimming beneath the surface of the 

 former must necessarily be moved by muscles of great strength. In the great 

 auk this condition is fulfilled by the shortness of the terminal segments of the 

 wings, while in other diving birds the same end is attained by the wings never 

 being fully opened. 



The great auk was confined to the North Atlantic and never entered the Arctic 

 Circle, although it ranged along the European side from Iceland to the Bay of 

 Biscay, and on the American side from Greenland to Virginia. It was, however, 

 only in winter that the bird was seen in the more southern parts of this habitat. 

 Generally known as the garefowl, it bred in large numbers on the Geyrfuglasker — 

 or Garefowl-rock — a small rocky island off the south-west coast of Iceland ; and on 

 Funk Island to the north-east of Newfoundland. The colony on the Geyrfuglasker 

 might have existed for many years if that island had not sunk into the sea in 

 consequence of a volcanic eruption, so that the birds were obliged to move to the 

 rocky islet of Eldey, which is nearer the shore, and thus more accessible. There 

 the last two survivors were killed on the 3rd of June 1844. 



The history of the extermination of the great auk begins with the 21st of 

 May 1534, on which day two boats' crews from Cartier's ships landed on Funk 

 Island, and in less than half an hour filled their boats with birds as easily as if 

 they had been so many stones. Besides those eaten fresh, each ship took away 

 five or six barrels of salted birds. After this date the French fishermen relied to a 

 great extent on the supply of these birds for food, and it became a practice for 

 passing ships to call at Funk Island in order to lay in a store of salted auks. The 

 immense numbers of the bird may be judged from the fact that although each laid 

 only a single egg, and the increase, even under favourable conditions, was conse- 

 quently but slow, yet it took more 4 than two hundred years to kill off the colony. 

 Some might have survived to the present day, if it had not become the practice to 

 hunt the birds for the sake of their feathers as well as for food. Frequently the 

 crews of several ships would spend the summer on Funk Island for the sole purpose 

 of auk-hunting, when they would kill the birds in thousands and leave the carcases 

 to decay, the result being that by the year 1840 a clean sweep had been made of 

 the entire colony. 



