4i6 
DIVERS. 
the young are not unfrequently met with. When fed in con- 
finement, the Auk expresses its anxiety by raising and shaking 
the head and neck and uttering a gurgling noise, but appears 
to be on the whole essentially dumb, as well as deprived of 
flight. 
Since Nuttall wrote, the Great Penguin of the North Atlantic 
has become extinct. There is no mystery .surrounding the extinc- 
tion of these birds ; they simply yielded to the inevitable law of the 
survival of the fittest. -Through disuse- the wings became unfit for 
service, and the parents could not reach a place of safety for their 
eggs ; and though e.xpert divers, and strong, swift swimmers, theii 
legs were almost useless when upon land, and the birds were con- 
tinually surprised by hunters and captured in large numbers, until 
the last one perished. 
Not many years ago they were abundant in the vicinity of New'- 
foundland, and they no doubt occurred as far south as the shores 
of Maine. Now a few stuffed specimens is all that can be found 
of former legions. 
