566 



exist in collections; the majority of which there is every reason to believe were brought from 

 Iceland, having been killed there between 1831 and 1844. 



But little is known concerning the habits of this bird. Owing to its total inability to fly, it 

 was never observed out of the water, except at its breeding-stations ; and when met with on land 

 it could generally be caught without much difficulty. O. Fabricius (Fauna Grcenlandica, p. 82) 

 says that it fed on Cottus scorpius, Cyclopterus lum/pus, and other fishes of the same size, and the 

 stomach of a young bird in down captured in August contained rose-root (Rhodiola rosea) and 

 littoral vegetable matter, but no fishes. 



There appears to be but little doubt that the extinction of this species has been chiefly, if 

 not entirely, brought about by human agency. Wolley clearly shows that the latest survivors 

 in Iceland, after being driven nearer inland by the disappearance of their chief breeding-station, 

 were killed by expeditions organized solely for the purpose of obtaining skins and eggs ; and, as 

 above stated, the breeding-places on the western side of the Atlantic were regularly and most 

 ruthlessly devastated by man until the bird disappeared. 



Like the Razorbill the Great Auk deposited a single egg on the bare ground, almost always 

 on a craggy surf-washed rock far out at sea. In general coloration it closely resembles the egg 

 of the Razorbill, but is much larger in size, measuring about 4ff by 2-f^- inches. 



The specimens figured are the adult bird in full summer dress in the British Museum, and 

 the moulting bird in the Dublin Museum, the latter being from a painting by Mr. E. INeale, who 

 visited Dublin expressly for that purpose. I am not so fortunate as to possess an example of 

 this rare bird ; and the specimens I have had an opportunity of personally examining are those 

 in the British, Cambridge, Newcastle*, Brussels, Brunswick, Washington, Philadelphia, Berlin, 

 Leyden, Paris, and Strasburg Museums, and in the collections of the late Mr. G. Dawson Rowley, 

 Baron de Selys-Longchamps, Mr. Arthur Crichton, and Mr. J. Hancock. 



* Tbis is the only young specimen that seems to exist. It was probably sent by Fabricius to Tunstall. 

 See Latham (Synops. hi. p. 312) and Fox (Cat. Newc. Mus. p. 92). 



