22 NESTa AND BOOa OF 



marvelous than ol truthfulness stating that this spot was found on the right side 

 only. The wings, although far too small to sustain the hird in the air, formed an 

 admirable pair of oars, the Great Auk being a most expert swimmer and diver, and 

 performing even longer migrations than many of its relatives that were endowed 

 with the poVer of flight. (Pl^te CIII.) Many, possibly all, of the Auk family, use 

 their wings quite as much as their feet for propulsion under water, and they may 

 liierally be said to Ly beneath the sea as well as over it. It has been noted that the 

 inability of the Great Auk to fly was due to lack of development of the bones of the 

 foream and hand, the humerus being proportionately as long as in other Auks. This 

 modification of structure was directly correlated with the aquatic habits of the 

 Garefowl, for the resistance of water being vastly greater than that of air, a wing 

 esipecially adapted for subaquatic flight would demand less surface and more power 



' than a wing formed for aerial locomotion. In the case of the Great Auk this demand 

 was met by shortening the outer portion of the wing, while other birds that use 

 their wings in diving obtain as far as possible the same result by only partially 

 opening their wings. The Great Axik -was confined to the North Atlantic, ranging 

 on the European side from Iceland to the Bay of Biscay, and on the American from 

 Greenland to Virginia, these localities marking the extreme limits of the bird's 

 migrations. Greenland was the habitat of the Garefowl to a very limited extent, 

 and the same may be said of the coast of Norway, while the southern limits given 

 above were reached only during the winter migrations of the bird. The positively 



• known breeding-places were few in number, those where the bird bred abundantly, 

 being the Garefowl Series off the coast of Iceland and Funk Island on the New- 

 foundland coast. These islands, or more properly islets, were very similar in their 

 general character, being isolated rocks, lying at some distance from shore and diffi- 



, cult of access. Of course the reason for this similarity) is apparent. The Great 

 Auk and its ecgs formed desirable articles of food, and since the bird was helpless 

 on land, it was easily captured, whence it came to pass at an early date that the ' 

 bird was exterminated at all localities easy of access. Another and more important 

 factor in the extermination of the Auk, especially in America, is to be found in the 

 gregarious habits of the bird and its predilection for certain breeding-places. This 

 habit of the Garefowl is shown by other birds which are restricted in their breeding 

 habitat without any apparent reason, although there may be some unknown cause 

 in the nature of food supply that might account for it. A good example of this is 

 found in the Gannet, which, although a bird of powerful flight, breeds at only three 

 localities on the eastern coast of America, and in Europe crosses the North Sea to 

 nest in Scotland, when localities seemingly quite as favorable exist along the, shores 

 of Norway. There were apparently plenty of suitable breeding-grounds for the 

 Great Auk in Maine and Labrador, but had the bird bred in small colonies at lo- 

 calities scattered along this wide expanse of territory, it would have been in ex- 

 istence to-day. The most important European breeding place of the Garefowl was 

 an Islet 25 miles off Reykjanes, Iceland, where, for many years, it led a somewhat 

 precarious existence, several times seeming to have been so reduced in numbers 

 that expeditions in search of birds and eggs were not worth the risk. Still the bird 

 would have existed in this locality many years longer than it did, but for volcanic 

 disturbances in March, 1830, during which the Geirfuglasker sank beneath the sea 

 compelling the existing Garefowl to seek new breeding places. Most of them appear 

 to have moved to an islet by the name of Eldey, and this being near the coast and 

 moro accessible, the few remaining Great Auks were in the course of fourteen years 



