ALCA IMPENNIS. Lmn, 
GREAT AUK. 
Alca impennis. — Linn., Syst. Nat., I. p. 210(1766). — Shaw, General Zoology, XIII., Pt. 1, p. 51. — Latham, Birds, X. 
p. 55- — Audubon, Birds of America, VI 1 . p, 265, — Gould, Birds of Europe, V. pi. 400. — Dresser, Hist. Birds 
of Europe, Pt. 79. — Ibis, (1859,) p. 174; (i860,) p. 300; (1861,) pp. 15, 374, 396; (1862,) pp. 77, 301, 381 ; 
(1S64,) pp. 354, 356, 466; (1865,) pp. 1 r 6, 222, 228, 336,450, 524; (1866,) pp. 223, 224; (1867,) p. 384; 
(1868,) pp, 342, 457, 483 ; ( 1S69,) pp. 229, 35S, 359, 360, 393 ; (1870,) pp. 356, 449, 450, 518; (1871,) pp. 431, 
455; (1872,) p. 449. 
Alca major. — Briss. Orn., VI. p. 85. 
Le Grand Pingouin. — Buff., Hist. Nat. Ois., LX. p. 393. 
Chenalopex impennis. — (L, ) G. R. Gray, Hand- List Birds, III, p, 95. 
^^1 the beginning of the present century the Great Auk was not uncommon along our northern shores; but at the 
present time, ow ing to the persecution of man, it has disappeared, and none have been seen alive for many years. 
Perhaps a- lew individuals may still linger amid the solitary fastnesses of the north. Some unknown bay aftords them 
a secure hiding-place until they too shall have passed away, and the only trace of this noble bird will be a few dried 
skins in some of the museum collections. This species at one time seems to have been abundant on both sides of the 
Atlantic; but at the beginning of the present centrin' its numbers had so decreased that it was common only among the 
small islands on the coast ol Newfoundland and in the Gull of St. Lawrence, where, on account of its total inability to 
flv, it became an easy prey to the fishermen who regularly visited its breeding-places and carried away large numbers of 
the birds and eggs. On the other side ol the Atlantic it was also abundant, and bred among the Orkney and Faroe 
Islands, where it was well known at a comparatively recent date. We have records ol its occurrence at St. Kilda 
as late as 1822. 
According to Faber (Prodr. Isl. Orn.), the Great Auk bred common!)' upon two isolated rocks in the sea south 
of Iceland, whither the natives, for more than a century, had made annual expeditions to procure the birds and eggs. 
In the year 1813 a vessel from the Faroes landed there, and the men procured many specimens, twentv-four being 
sent to Rejkjavik. In 1830 a skin and one egg were sent to the Copenhagen Museum by Count Moltkc, which he wrote 
had been obtained on the island of Eldey. 
Mr. Dresser states (Hist. Birds ol Europe, Pt. 79): “ Between that year (1830) and 1S44, as appears by Wolley’s 
researches, not fewer than sixty birds were killed on this island, d he last specimens known to have been taken on Eldey 
were killed in 1844, and having been skinned in Iceland, were sent with their bodies in spirit to Prof. Eschricht, at 
Copenhagen.” 
Latham’s “General History of Birds” contains an interesting account of this species. Ide says: “This, as far as we 
can learn, is by no means a common species. It appears on the isle of St. Kilda the beginning of May, and retires in 
June, and probably breeds there. It lays one large egg close to the sea mark, about six inches long, white, irregularly 
marked with purplish lines, and blotched at the larger end with black or ferruginous spots, and it is said that if the egg is 
taken away the bird wall not lay a second; is supposed to hatch late as m August; the voung are only covered with 
