ALCID.'E — THE AUKS — PLAUTL'S. 



4G7 



Plautus impennis. 



THE GREAT AUK. 



Alca impennis, LiNN. S. N. ed. 10, 1758, 130, no. 2 ; cil. 12, I. 176G, 210, no. 2. — Ai.'D. Om. Bio". 

 IV. 1838, 316 ; B. Am. pi. 341 ; oct. ed. VII. pi. 465. —Cass, in Baiid's B. N. Am. 1858, 900, 

 — Bah:d, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 710. — Coui:.s, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. I'liilad. 1808, 14; Key, 

 1872, 339 ; Check List, 1873, no. 615 ; ed. 2, 1882, no. 878. — Uidgw. Xom. N. Am. B.' 188li 

 no. 741. 



Plautus impennis, Steenstr. Vid. Med. Nat. For. Kjob. 1855, 114. 



Alca borealis , Foust. Synop. Cat. Brit. B. 1817, 29. 



Hab. Believed to be now extinct. Formerly (previous to 1844) inhabited the islands of the 

 North Atlantic, south to the coast of New Eiijj;land (Naliant and islands in Boston Bay); probably 

 did not occur north of the Arctic circle (Wolley). 



P. impennis, summer adult. 



Sp. Char. Adult, in summer : Head, neck, and upper parts, blackish, the throat and sides of 

 the head and neck inclining to a clear snulF-brown shade ; lower parts, a large oamI space covering 

 the greater part of the loral region, and the tips of the secondaries, white ; the white of the jugulum 

 extending upward in a point into the snuff-brown of the middle portion of the throat. "Bill 

 black, with the grooves between the transverse ridges white ; iris hazel ; feet and claws black " 

 (Audubon). 



