240 



BACKBONED ANIMALS. 



like feathers. The bill is flattened and knife-like, the feet 

 webbed, and placed so far back that upon shore the birds 

 stand erect. The bones of this and the preceding order 

 are solid. 



Auk (Alcida). The great auk* (Alca impennis] (Fig. 

 279) is remarkable as having become extinct since 1870, 

 and hardly seventy perfect specimens are known in the 

 world. Its length was about three feet, that of the wings 

 four inches. The bill was powerful, wings small, the back 

 black and breast white. They laid a single egg, about as 



large as that of a swan, 

 spotted with small, irregu- 

 lar blotches. The little 

 auk (Simorhynchus pusillus), 

 common in the Arctic re- 

 gions, is the smallest spe- 

 cies known, being only sev- 

 en inches in length. They 

 lay on the ice or rocks a 

 small, bluish - white egg. 

 Their cry is Rott-tet-tet-tet- 

 tet, continually repeated. 

 They are found in large 

 numbers in northern Nor- 

 way. The Guillemots ( Urid] 

 (Fig. 280, 5), six species of 

 which are known in the 

 Arctic waters, have long, straight, pointed, conical bills. 

 The general color is dirty black. They breed in vast 

 quantities on inaccessible cliffs, always facing the sea. A 

 single egg is laid, and, according to Sir John Richardson, 



* Three hundred years ago they were caught by the boat-load by 

 the early fishermen, and now the preserved specimens are so rare that 

 $650 was paid for one in the Museum of Natural History, New York. 

 It formerly ranged the coast of Maine, where its bones are now some- 

 times found in the shell-heaps. 



FIG. 279. Great auk, a bird that has 

 become extinct within fourteen 

 years. 



