FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Makch 17, 1887. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Pub. 0>. 



THE GREAT AUK. 



[From the Audubon Magazine for March.] 



OUR illustration this month has a double interest, 

 because it represents a form of bird life which can 

 now be seen only in pictures. The great auk, once so 

 abundant on the northern coast of America, no longer 

 exists. Not very long ago, when your mother's grand- 

 mother was young, and wore a poke-bonnet, it would 

 have been no difficult task to find auk skins enough to 

 trim all the hats in America, but in our day we can find 

 not a single auk. 



Natuiali jts and geologists, who find the fossil bones of 

 animals stored away in the rocks, tell us of many forms 

 of life which hare become extinct. Most of them have 

 disappeared because of great changes and unfavorable 

 conditions quite beyond the control of man. But the 

 great auk, like the dodo of Mauritius and some other birds, 

 has wholly ceased to exist because exterminated by the 

 cruelty of man. Had its human foes been less wanton, 

 the great auk might still be numbered among American 

 sea birds. Its melancholy fate is an instance of the 

 destruction which might be wrought upon other species 

 of birds, if the plumage hunters were unchecked. 



The great auk had neitber means of defense nor 

 powers of flight. Its safety lay in its home, which was 

 on outlying rocky islets and points of land, where there 



such an admirable instrument for the sustentation of 

 man." 



A little later, in 1672, John Josselyn, Gent., in a work 

 on "New England Rarities," printed iu London, writes: 

 "The Wobble is an ill shaped fowl, having no long 

 Feathers in their Pinions, which is the reason they cai> 

 not fly, much unlike the Pengwin; thep are in the Spring 

 very fat, or rather oyly, but pulled and garbidg'd, and 

 laid to the Fire to roast,' they yield not one drop." 



In a work on Greenland, by Hans Egede, printed at 

 Copenhagen in the year 1718, and translated and pub- 

 lished in London in the year 1818, it is stated that "There 

 is another sea-bird, which the Norway-men call Alkes, 

 which in the winter season contributes much to the main- 

 tenance of the Greenlander. Sometimes there are such 

 numbers of them that they drive them in large flocks to 

 the shore, where they catch them in then hands." 



Coming down to modern times we find that early in the 

 present century the great auk was abundant'on the islands 

 on the coast of Iceland, but that in 1807 an English 

 privateer visited these islands and killed most of them, 

 and that again in the year 1810, the inhabitants of the 

 Faroe Islands, being threatened with starvation, visited 

 Iceland and made havoc among the auks. 



From these inroads the species never recovered, and 

 after this time we hear of them as occurring on the coast 

 of Iceland only in small numbers. The last seen were 

 two killed in 1844. 



On our own coast this species was once very abundant. 

 We have seen what Captain Whitbourne said of it on the 

 Newfoundland coast, and we know from the occurrence 

 of its remains, and from the testimony of witnesses, some 



SEA BIRD NOTES OF THE GRAMPUS. 



THE following notes of the writer's observations when 

 on the United States Fish Commission's schocner 

 Gratnpus, September and October, 1888, in most cases 

 simply mention the occurrence or capture of the species 

 noticed. In those instances where habits have been ob- 

 served they have been mentioned. 



Sept. 23.— Coast of Maine, vicinity of Casco Bay. I saw 

 scattering jaegers (S. pomatorhinus and S. parasiticus). 

 These buds are frequently called bos'ns and gull-chasers 

 by Cape Ann fishermen. The latter name seems well ap- 

 plied, as these birds will compel even the herring gull (L. 

 argentatus, var. smiihacnianus) to disgorge its food. 

 They seem to avoid any conflict with the shearwaters, 

 either P. major or P. anglorum. One flock of some 

 seventy-five white-winged coots (M. velvetina) and a few 

 single ones were seen. One warbler, either female or im- ' 

 mature, alighted on the main boom and on the deck to- 

 day. It looked like Geothylpis trichas. Seven cherry 

 birds (4. cedrorum) were also seen. Three alighted on the 

 rigging and one on the main boom within ten feet of me. 



Sept. 24. — Off Portland, Maine. Saw scattering gulls 

 (L. argentatus) and two small hawks too distant to name. 



Sept. 26. — La Have Bank, between 68° and 64" west 

 long, and about 42 n 55' north lat. I saw a great skua, 

 commonly known as sea hen (Megalestris skua). Capt. 

 Collins went out in a dory, but failed to get a shot. He 

 got one Arctic tern or mackerel gull (S. macroura). The 

 first kittiwake or winter gull (Eissa tridactyla) was seen 

 to-day. It was an immature bird. Several bos'ns (8. 

 jjomatorhinus) were noticed, but too distant to shoot. 

 Sept. 27.— La Have Ridges, lat. 42° 40' N., long. 63' 12' 



THE GREAT AUK (Plant us impennis hiss.). 



, were no large mammals that could in jure it. Its powers 

 of swimming and diving gave it safety frcm the eagles, 

 the only winged creatures which could successfully attack 

 a bird of such great size. As soon as civilized man 

 entered upon the scene, however, the great auk's danger 

 was apparent. 



The great auk— the representative of the penguin hi 

 the northern seas— lived up to the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century, without any serious diminution of its 

 ranks. That it was to some extent used as food by 

 various nations is quite certain, for its bones have been 

 found in the shell heaps left by coast dwelling tribes; but 

 this did not affect the supply. 



Up to a comparatively recent date a general impression 

 prevailed that the great auk was a bird of the far north, 

 and was commonly found within the Arctic circle. This 

 does not appear to have been the case. It was an inhabitant 

 of the North Atlantic Ocea:?., being abundant on small 

 islands off the coast of Iceland and Newfoundland, but it 

 is doubtful whether it ever occurred except casually 

 within the Arctic circle. It has been said by Reinhardt 

 that it was found occasionally on the coast of Greenland, 

 and that one was killed on Disco Island, in Davis' Strait, 

 but later writers are not disposed to credit these accounts. 

 However, it is clear that it was a bird capable of endur- 

 ing a great degree of cold, for being practically wingless 

 it was no doubt resident where hatched, or at all events 

 could not wander far from home in search of a warmer 

 climate. 



The old accounts of these birds— which were known by 

 a variety of names, such as wobble, penguin, moyack 

 and alk— speak of them as being very abundant, and 

 show very clearly how readily they were destroyed. Thus 

 Captain Richard Whitbourne, of Exmouth, Devonshire. 

 England, in "A Discovrse and Discovery of Nevv-fovnd- 

 land," printed in 1622, says: "These Penguins are as bigge 

 as Geese, and flye not, for they haue but a little short 

 wing; and they multiplie so infinitely, vpon a certain flat 

 Hand, that men driue them from thence vupon a boord. 

 into their boats by hundreds at a time: as if God had 

 made the innocency of so poore a creature, to become 1 



of whom may be still living, that it used to be plentifully 

 distributed along the coast of Maine and Massachusetts 

 as far south as Boston Bay. Mr. George A. Boardman 

 learned from a Methodist missionary, who was stationed 

 on the coast of Newfoundland near Funk Island from 

 1818 to 1823. that during the whole of his residence these 

 birds were present in considerable numbers, and that the 

 inhabitants destroyed many of them for their feathers. 

 Often the boys kept them as pets tied by a string to the 

 leg. Mr. Audubon states that during a voyage to 

 England, perhaps about 1880, Mr. Henry Havell hooked a 

 great auk on the Newfoundland Banks and brought it on 

 board. This seems to be the latest record we have of its 

 occurrence on the American coast, though Mr. Ruthven 

 Deane published in the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornitholo- 

 gical Club an account of a young bird which was picked 

 up dead on the coast of Labrador in 1870. About this 

 occurrence, however, there seems to be some doubt. 



All accounts agree in stating that this bird was very 

 abundant in the seventeenth century, and that it bred on 

 rocky islets off the coast where it was free from the 

 attacks of any enemy except man. When on shore the 

 birds sat upright and moved along by short steps about as 

 fast as a man would walk. It is generally agreed that 

 only one egg was laid. This was large, pointed and white 

 with brown or chocolate spots. The birds made no 

 defense of their egg but would bite fiercely when caught, 

 inflicting severe wounds with their great strong bills. 



So far as known seventy-eight skins of the great auk 

 exist in various museums, and besides these there are a, 

 number of skeletons, parts of skeletons, and mummies 

 taken from shell heaps and old breeding places. 



The length of the great auk was about 30in., and the 

 color was as follows: The head, neck and upper parts 

 were black, fading to snuff brown on the throat and sides 

 of head and neck. The lower parts, a large oval spot in 

 front of the eye and the tips of the secondary wing 

 feathers are white. The white of the breast and neck 

 extends upward in a point into the brown of the throat. 

 The bill is black with the grooves between the transverse 

 ridges white. The feet and claws black, eye hazel. 



W. Captain this evening shot a hawk, but owing to the 

 darkness, it was not picked up. I think it was Astur 

 atricapillus. This bird hovered over the vessel off and on 

 for some five minutes. I eaw a turnstone (Strepsilas 

 interpres) this morning. This bird is known by various 

 names, as calico back, chicken bird, red-legged plover, 

 and chicaree. Some shearwaters (Puffimis major) have 

 been seen. This species, with P. anglorum, are the 

 hagdons, or hags, of fishermen. 



Sept. 28.— La Have Ridges, lat. 42° 50' N., long. 63° 20' 

 W. Captain shot a jaeger (S. pomatorhinus); I shot a 

 female sooty shearwater, or black hag, P. fuliginosus). 

 This species is much less common than either P. major or 

 P. anglorum; one dark pomatorhinus, thirteen 8. poma- 

 torhinus in ordinary autumn plumage, six common hags 

 (P. major), and an immature herring gull or gray gull 

 (L. argentatus. var. s-mdthsoniaiius) were obtained. Birds 

 are not plenty, perhaps three or fom- common hags have 

 been seen. The petrels, common known as Mother Cary 

 chickens, particularly C. leucorrhoa, were the most 

 numerous. O. ocean ica were also seen. Messrs. Carswell 

 and Williams caught seven petrels alive this afternoon. 

 These buds became so eager to get the pieces of cod liver 

 which were thrown cut to attract them, that they flew 

 very close to the vessel's side, and thus these seven were 

 caught in a dip net. The birds were on the wing at the 

 time and much dexterity was displayed by the above- 

 named gentlemen. 



Sept. 29.— La Have, lat. 42° 46' N., long. 63° 15' W. 

 Saw the first gannet (S. basmna). It was in the imma- 

 ture gray plumage. Two adult R. tridactyla were also 

 noticed. Mr. Williams shot two common jaegers (poma- 

 torhinus). I shot two common hags (P. major) and a 

 fulmar petrel (F. glacialis). This latter bird is the noddy 

 or marbleheader of fishermen. It is also known as oil 

 bird and stinker. 



Sept. 80.— La Have, lat, 42° 45' N., long. 63° 16' W. One 

 adult and three immature winter gulls, six bos'ns (poma- 

 torhinus), one of them in dark plumage, and six hags 

 (P. major), in ordinary fall plumage, were taken. 



Oct. 1.— La Have Ridges, lat. 42° 50' N., long. 63 ^ 25' W. 



