176 



A NATURE WOOING. 



portant article of food for the early navigators and 

 fishermen. Being incapable of flight it was easily 

 captured on land and was taken in great numbers at 

 its breeding places. Systematic slaughter of the bird 



Fig. 53 Great Auk. 



for its flesh and feathers caused its extermination 

 about 1840. Previous to my excavations in the Or- 

 mond mound its remains had been found from New- 

 foundland southward as far as the coast of Massachu- 

 setts, but not below that State. The finding of its 

 bones in this East Florida shell mound was, there- 

 fore, a remarkable extension of its range. 



In the spring of 1902 an account of my discovery 

 of the Great Auk bone in the Ormond mound was 



