510 KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



they could be used for fuel, and while this seems a little doubtful it 

 may yet be true, or partially so. 



It certainly would have beea a great convenience to the Auk exter- 

 minators to be thus relieved of the difficulty of bringing fire- wood from 

 the mainland, more than 30 miles distant. 



Close by the two best preserved pounds we upturned the sod over a 

 circle 10 or 12 feet in diameter, beneath which was a compact layer of 

 charcoal and bones, while not far away another excavation told as 

 plainly as words that here was oue of the last abiding places of the 

 Auk. 



Barely 2 inches of turf covered the shallow soil in which lay embedded 

 a few fresh-looking bones of the Great Auk, mixed with others of its 

 lesser relative, the Murre. Evidently at the time of this deposit the 

 Great Auk was on the wane and its numbers were no longer sufficient 

 to meet the demands of the feather hunters, who promptly supplied 

 the deficiency with those of the bird most easily secured. 



The Great Auk, by the way, is not the only bird which has been ex- 

 tirpated on Funk Island, for the Gannet lives in name alone, although 

 Cartier found it abundant, and men still living remember to have seen 

 the bird. Thanks to the efforts of the eggers, the numbers of birds of 

 all species, with the possible exception of the Puffins, have been greatly 

 lessened during the ])ast twenty-five years. 



Stuvitz in 1844 called Funk Island " a mountain of birds," and was 

 above all surprised at the abundance of the Arctic and Common Tern, 

 while in 1874 Professor Milne wrote that " although it was the 20th of 

 July, we were almost everywhere in danger of placing our feet upon 

 eggs." 



We found the Arctic Terns still very numerous, and the shrill cries 

 of the large flock that circled round our heads were so loud and in- 

 cessant as to be positiv^ely annoying. 



Their young, and eggs in an advanced stage of incubation were scat- 

 tered here and there from one end of the island to the other, but not a 

 single specimen of the Common Tern was noticed. 



The number of Murresand Razor-bills was comparatively insignificant, 

 and the few eggs of these species that were seen were placed in the most 

 secluded spots attainable. 



The tiazor-bill in particular seems to be learning wisdom by bitter ex- 

 perience, and, as we first noticed at the Bird Rocks, hides its egg when- 

 ever practicable in some nook or cranny, or under an overhanging ledge 

 where it will be safe from all intruders. 



The Puffins, however, who find security in their burrows, exist in 

 great numbers, and to them, at least, the extermination of the Great 

 Auk has proved a decided advantage by providing soil in which to dig 

 their habitations. 



The entran(!e to each burrow is surrounded by small collections of 

 Great Auk bones which these little resurrectionists have brought to 



