Tue Divine Birps. 277 
CHAPTER XV. 
THE DIVING BIRDS. 
HIS group consists of the Auks, Murres, Guil- 
lemots, Auklets, Puffins, Loons, and Grebes. 
Of the five subgroups mentioned in order, none be- 
long inland, but of course “stragglers” of some of 
them have been carried inland, and so swell the lists 
of birds found in such and such a locality. The 
loons and grebes, on the other hand, are quite at 
home in fresh water, and add no little to the charm 
of many a watery waste that is now pretty closely 
shorn of the features designed for it by Nature. 
The Great Auk is extinct. Nature had nothing to 
do with its destruction. Comment is unnecessary. 
The Little Auk survives and seems equal to holding 
its own, the odds not being so decidedly against it. 
In winter they come as far south as the New Jersey 
coast. The late Dr. Lockwood has given an amusing 
account of one of these birds that was kept for some 
time in confinement. It was one of many that in the 
winter of 1877 not only appeared upon the coast, but 
came inland. “They were so gentle and unsuspi- 
cious, and so comical, for on the land their gait was 
a tipsy waddle.” One was picked up six miles from 
sea, and entirely beyond tidal reach. It was ill at 
ease in the air of a close room, standing upright on 
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