LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 213 
uously and unevenly scrawled or blotched, chiefly about the larger end 
with black or very dark brown, sometimes with lighter brown, drab 
or gray. 
The measurements of 40 eggs, obtained from the Thayer collec- 
tion and through the kindness of Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, average 
123.7 by 75.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes meas- 
ure 140 by 70, 126.5 by 83.5, 111 by 72, and 116 by 69 millimeters. ] 
. Behavior—Contemporaneous writers, especially some of the older 
ones, show considerable imagination in their description of this bird 
and its habits, but many of their accounts are evidently truthful and 
are of great interest. A number of these are quoted here as a con- 
tribution to the life history of this extinct bird. 
_ The following description is by M. Martin (1753), who lived for 
three weeks on St. Kilda in June, 1697: 
The sea fowl are first gairfowl, being the stateliest as well as the largest 
sort, and above the size of a solan goose, of a black color, red about the 
eyes, a large spot under each, a long broad bill; it stands stately, its whole body 
erected, its wings short, flies not at all; lays its egg upon the bare rock, which 
if taken away, she lays no more for that year; she is whole footed, and has 
the hatching spot upon her breast, i. e., a bare spot from which the feathers 
have fallen off with the heat in hatching; its egg is twice as big as that of a 
solan goose, and is variously spotted, black, green, and dark; it comes without 
regard to any wind, appears the first of May, and goes away about the middle 
of June. 
Cartwright (1792) under date of August 5, 1771, wrote in his 
journal : 
During a calm in the afternoon Shuglawina went off in his kyack in pursuit 
of a penguin; he presently came within a proper distance of the bird, and 
stuck his dart into it; but, as the weapon did not enter a mortal part, the 
penguin swam and dived so well that he would have lost both the bird and the 
dart had he not driven it near enough the vessel for me to shoot it. 
Plumages.—On the 18th of August, 1821 (or 1822), a great auk 
was captured near the Island of Glass or Scalpa (one of the Heb- 
rides). A description of this bird by Fleming (1824), who was 
present at the time, throws light on the change from nuptial to 
winter plumage of the species. He says: 
A few white feathers were at this time making their appearance in the 
sides of its neck and throat, which increased considerable during the following 
week, and left no room to doubt, that, like its congeners, the blackness of the 
throat feathers of summer is exchanged for white during the winter season. 
Food.—aAs to its food, according to Grieve (1885), Fabricius said: 
The great auk fed on Cottus scorpius, or the bullhead, and Cyclopterus 
lumpus, or the lump fish, and other fishes of the same size. 
It is said that one was caught about 1812 near Papa Westray, 
Orkney, on the open sea by some fishermen, who enticed it to the side 
