ALCID^ — ALCIN^ : GREAT AUK. 819 
tarsus 1.25 ; middle or outer toe and claw 2.00, inner 1.40 ; chord of culmen 1.30, arc 1.50 ; 
gape 2.25; gonys 0.75; greatest depth, of bill 0.90. This auk abounds in the N. Atlantic, 
both coasts, and parts of the Polar seas; casual in the N. Pacific; Japan. On our coast, 
breeds in great numbers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, about Newfoundland and Labrador ; 
strays S. in winter to the 
Middle States, like other 
Alcidce. The eggs are 
usually laid in caverns 
and fissures of the rocks 
along precipitous shore- 
lines, often with those of 
sea-pigeons and puflins ; 
about 3.00 X scant 2.00, 
white with creamy or 
milky-bluish tint, never 
green like those of murres, 
spotted and blotched, but 
not fantastically traced 
1^ over, with different shades 
H of umber - brown ; less 
V pointed ; laid in June and 
" July. 
348. AL'CA. (Lat. from alTc 
or auk.) His Grace, 
The Auk, who lost the 
use of his wings, and per- 
ished off the face of the 
earth in consequence. 
! 878. A. Impen'nis. (Lat. 
impennis, wingless. Fig. 
561.) The Great Auk. 
Largest of the family : 
length about 30.00 inches ; 
wing 6.00; tail 3.00; bill 
along gape 4.25; chord Fig. 560.— Murres. 
of culmen 3.15 ; greatest depth of upper mandible 1.00, of lower 0.67 ; greatest width of bill 
0.67; tarsus 1.67; middle toe and claw 3.25; outer do. 3.00; inner do. 2.25. A great white 
oval spot between eye and biU. Hood and mantle dark; under parts white, extending in a 
point on the throat; ends of secondaries white. Bill black, with white grooves; feet dark 
Special interest attaches to this bird, which is now doubtless extinct, largely through human 
agency. It formerly inhabited this coast from Massachusetts northward, as attested by earlier 
observers, and by the plentiful occurrence of its bones in shell-heaps; also Greenland, Iceland, 
and the N. W. shores of Europe, to the Arctic Circle. On our shores it was apparently last 
alive at the Funks, a small island off the S. Coast of Newfoundland; while in Iceland, its 
living history has been brought down to 1844. For some years, it was currently, but prema- 
turely, reported extinct. Mr. R. Deane has recently recorded (Am. Nat. vi, 368) that a speci- 
men was "found dead in the vicinity of St. Augustine, Labrador, in November, 1870;" this 
one, though in poor condition, being sold for $200, and sent to Europe. But there appears to 
be some question respecting the character, date, and disposition of this alleged individual ; and 
it seems very improbable that the species lived down to 1870. I know of only four sped- 
