216 BIED WATER TRESPASSERS. 



the Jackass Penguins in great numbers at Noir Island, 

 believes that those birds who are moulting, and cannot 

 therefore procure food for themselves, are fed by their 

 fully-feathered companions, as if they were young and 

 helpless. 



AUKS. 



Perhaps the bird which comes, or rather, which 

 came, next to the penguin in its aquatic power, is the 

 Great Auk (Alca impennis) . 



This is one of the species which has become extinct 

 by the agency of man within the present generation, 

 just as did the Philip Island parrot of Australia (Nestor 

 productus) after it, and the dodo some years before it. 

 This extinction of species is one of the most curious 

 problems of zoology, especially when it takes effect on 

 such birds as the magnificent cockatoo, called the 

 Philip Island parrot, and the great auk. It can easily 

 be understood how a large, fat-bodied, slow-paced 

 bird like the dodo should be rapidly extirpated, 

 especially as it was unable to fly, and the flesh was 

 very good to eat. Moreover, the bird was a local one, 

 and its extirpation was accomplished by sailors, the 

 least accustomed of all men to weigh the future con- 

 sequences of present acts. 



But the case is different with the other two birds. 

 Take, for example, the Philip Island parrot. Fifteen 

 years ago, whilst describing this bird, I mentioned 

 that " it may probably become extinct at no distant 

 period, as its singularly shaped beak renders it an 



