AUKS, MURRES, AND PUFFINS 



149 



33. Plautus impennis (Linn.). GREAT AUK. Upper-parts fuscous- 

 black, a large white spot before the eye ; secondaries tipped with white ; sides 

 of the neck and throat seal-brown, rest of the underparts silvery white. L., 

 28-00-30-00; W., 5'75; B., 3'15-3'50; greatest depth of B., 1'50 (Ridgw.). 



Range. Formerly coasts and islands of the n. Atlantic, from near the 

 Arctic Circle s. to Mass, and Ireland, and probably s. casually to S. C. 

 and Fla. ; now extinct. 



Egg, 1, pyriform-ovate, pale olive buffy, variously marked with brown 

 and black, 4' 67 x 2 '91 (Ridgw.). 



The Great Auk was flightless. Like 

 other birds of this family, it frequented 

 certain localities in large numbers each 

 year to breed. Early voyagers and fisher- 

 men visited its nesting-grounds, killing 

 the helpless birds in enormous numbers 

 for their flesh, feathers and oil. The 

 result was extinction, and no living Great 

 Auk has been observed 

 since 1842. About 

 seventy specimens are 

 known to be preserved 

 in collections. 



In 1902, two humeri 

 of the Great Auk, both 

 from the left side, were 

 found in a shell-mound 

 at Ormond, Fla. (Hay, 

 Auk, XIX, p. 255), 

 where their discovery 

 gives new meaning to 

 Catesby's statements 

 that the "Penguin" 

 was a winter visitant 



FIG. 77. Great Auk. Note the short wings of a 

 flightless bird. (Much reduced.) 



to South Carolina. 

 1888. LUCAS, F. A., Auk, V, 278-283. 1887-8, Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 493-529. 1891. Ibid., 709-728 (history). 1893. NEWTON, A., Dictionary 

 of Birds (history, bibliography). 



34. Alle alle (Linn.). DOVEKIE. Ads. in summer. Upperparts, 

 T.ings and tail sooty black; sides and front of neck and upper breast some- 

 y hat browner; secondaries tipped and scapulars streaked with white; 

 lower breast and belly white. Ads. in winter and Im. Similar, but throat 

 \vliiter or washed with dusky, and sometimes a gray collar on nape. L.. 

 800; W., 4-50; Tar., "70; B., '50. 



Range. Coasts and islands of the n. Atlantic. Breeds from Kane 

 Basin and Baffin Bay east to Franz Josef Land; winters from s. Greenland 

 s. to L. L, and casually to Delaware Bay and N. C.; accidental near 

 Melville Island, and in Wise., Mich., Ont., and Bermuda. 



Long Island, Nov. 18-Mch. 24. Ossining, A. V. Cambridge, irregular 

 T. V., late fall or winter. 



Nest, on the ledges and in the crevices of rocky cliffs. Egg, 1, pale, 

 bluish white, 1'85 x T27. Date, Disco Bay, Greenland, June 28. 



"On the approach of a vessel this bird has a peculiar way of splash- 



