PYGOPODES. 351 



islands and rock-bound coasts accessible only in the face 

 of great difficulty, they are not always so fearful of man 

 as they should be for their own safety. With the excep- 

 tion of the razor-billed auk, the birds of this family are all 

 inhabitants of the Pacific continental coasts and islands. 

 The razor-billed auk nests on the Labrador coast, and 

 on the North Atlantic and Polar sea islands. The Great 

 Auk is one of the birds that has disappeared from the 

 face of the earth within the memory of men now living, 

 and its disappearance has been due to the fact of the 

 diminutive wings. The shortness of its wings must have 

 been a decided disadvantage to the birds in the case 

 of combats with enemies among their bird neighbors, 

 as well as a serious handicap in case of an attack made by 

 man. During storms, also, the inability to use the 

 wings must have resulted in the death of many of the 

 birds. All the living auks have wings, and indicatioris 

 show that the ancestors of the Great Auk had useful 

 wings; hence it is supposed that this bird lost the use 

 of its wings through generations of disuse. The length of 

 this bird was nearly three feet, thirty inches, and the 

 length of its wing was just six inches, a wing-spread 

 totally incapable of supporting the body of the bird free 

 from the earth. This is the heavy penalty which nature 

 always imposes. The Bible puts it — "He that will not 

 work shall not eat " ; and this law runs through the whole 

 kingdom of life— a power unused becomes finally impos- 

 sible. Among the body members, an organ unused 

 degenerates in structure till it is incapable of fulfilling its 

 function. This is one of the most serious lessons that 

 the living being has to learn. 



The loons are all northern birds, though the yellow- 

 billed loon, the largest of them all, is the only one that 



