GREAT AUK. 
47 
JVJ TA TORES. 
ALCAD/E 
PLATE CCLXXXIIL 
GREAT AUK. 
ALCA IMPENNIS. 
The Great Auk is considered a rare species in British 
Ornithology, inasmuch as its capture is confined to but five 
or six specimens, most of which were obtained near the 
Orkneys, and islands of the Hebrides. 
The geographical distribution of this bird extends chiefly 
over the northern shores of Europe and America; about 
Iceland and Greenland, it is more frequently met with than 
elsewhere, but still in very small numbers,—and the localities 
chiefly inhabited by it, are the isolated low rocks that here 
and there occur in the sea, at a considerable distance from 
the shore, or that are only visible at low-water, which ac¬ 
counts for its rare appearance on any coast. A single 
specimen is recorded to have been seen on the coast of 
Labrador, and several about Newfoundland. It is probable 
that specimens of the Great Auk, and especially of its eggs, 
will at all times be scarce, since the localities in which they 
abound are very difficult of approach, and generally avoided 
by mariners; but we cannot believe, as some authorities 
VOL. VII. 
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