474 



ALCID^E 



and so, out of water, was in many ways a helpless creature. 

 Except when it assembled in numbers to nest, it was as 

 aquatic as a Penguin, its aborted wings (Plate LI., figs. 1 

 and 2), functionless as regards flight, being admirably 

 adapted to propel it swiftly for long distances under water. 



FIG. 55. GREAT AUK. 



of shells, bones of domestic animals, and horns of Bed deer. As in the 

 former instance these relics were found on the surface between the 

 sand-hills ('Irish Naturalist,' 1902, p. 188). 



These Auks' remains have been liberally presented to the Museum 

 of Science and Art, Dublin, and the Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. 

 Though yielding bones of the Great Auk, yet the coast of Waterford is 

 not fringed with any large islands where this bird might have bred ; but 

 Mr. Ussher remarks, "Sixteen miles from Tramore Bay are the low 

 Keeragh Islands, eminently suited for such a bird to breed on ; and 

 the incursions that the sea has made along the Waterford coast, 

 ..... may well have washed away any low flat island that 

 existed in Tramore Bay." 



From these discoveries it will be seen that the geographical range 

 of the Great Auk as far as Ireland is concerned extended nearly down 

 to lat. 52 N. 



