TOWNSEND AND ALLEN: LABRADOR BIRDS. 307 



found them frozen inland or on the ice. Cartwright's definition of 

 "Tinker" is: "A sea fowl. ' Razorbill '— Pennant." 



The immense numbers of these birds on the southern coast in Audu- 

 bon's time are attested in his accounts and have been already referred 

 to under "Bird and egg destruction." Stearns says: "At the Fox 

 Islands, off Kecarpin River they are very abundant. . . .1 noticed 

 them in thousands about several other small islands also, and am 

 informed by the inhabitants that this species was always very abun- 

 dant about this locality." Unfortunately at the present day the rapa- 

 cious fishermen have played havoc in their ranks. We saw about 

 two dozen only along the southern coast, but in the vicinity of Battle 

 Harbor not a bird of this species, and scarcely a gull was to be seen. 

 Only the cautious Black Guillemots that hide their eggs in rocky clefts 

 and keep themselves out of gunshot flourished. Between Battle 

 Harbor and Nain fiord north we saw about 84 Razor-billed Auks, 

 and about 47 on our return south. We saw about 25 flying around an 

 island between Holton and Cape Harrison, and about 40 near a high 

 rocky island a little south of Nain. The "thousands" of bygone 

 years are no more! 



In flight the birds sway from side to side like all the Alcidae and 

 they generally fly thirty feet or so above the water, not skimming 

 close to it like the Black Guillemot and Puffin. They are distinguished 

 from Murres in flight by their short neck, and from Puffins by their 

 larger size and the absence of the gray patch on the side of the head. 

 As they fly away, they show white on either side of a black median 

 line, while the Puffin shows a continuous black back. Swimming 

 on the water, they sometimes cock their tails at an angle of about 45° 

 On the rocky ledges they sit bolt upright displaying their white breasts. 



Mr. Schmitt at Nain told us they laid their eggs there early and 

 in the middle of July. 



[Plautus impennis (Linn.). Great Auk; "Penguin." — Extinct. The 

 last Great Auk seen alive was in 1852. In 1853, the dead body of one was 

 found floating in the waters of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Like the 

 Gannet at the present day, it is probable that the Great Auk bred in only a few 

 chosen places, chief of which was Funk Island, lying 32 miles off the north- 

 east coast of Newfoundland, and although the bird may have bred on the 

 Labrador coast we have no evidence of it, either from history or from the 

 presence of egg shells or bones, such as have been found in numbers at Funk 

 Island. However, there is no doubt but that the bird, if not a resident, was 

 formerly a frequent visitor to the Labrador coast. 



