PLATE CGXLIII. 



Di. Latham fpeaks of this fpecimen: it appeared to him to be a 

 young bird, the oval fpot between the bill and the eye being fpeckled 

 black and white, and the bill itfelf marked with only a few furrows. 



The Great Auk is never feen more foutherly in Britain than the 

 Scottifli iflands ; upon fome of which it is known to breed, though 

 in very fparing numbers. Dr. Latham obferves that this bird is fome- 

 times feen on the lile of St. Kilda appearing there the beginning of 

 May and retiring in June. It lays one large egg clofe to the fea 

 mark, fix inches long, white irregularly marked with purplifh lines, 

 and blotched at the larger end with black or ferruginous fpots ; and 

 it is faid that if the egg be taken away the bird will not lay a fecond. 

 It is fuppofed thefe birds are hatched late in the feafon, as the young 

 in Auguft are only covered with a grey down. 



When thefe birds leave the Scottilh coail, they retire northward to 

 Norway, the Ferroe ifles, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. 

 They appear to be common in the Ar6lic regions, where the natives 

 are faid to ufe their fkins for garments, and otherwife apply them to . 

 purpofes of utility and ornament. 



The old birds are rarely feen on land : they fubfift piincipally upon 

 iifli, in queft of which they ufually go out fome diftance to fea, and 

 being expert divers, ftiew much facility in the capture of their prey. 



P L ATE 



