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Genus ALCA.

a WT an ee ar.
Gen. Cuar. Beak straight, arched, large, very much curved at th

laterally sulcated, and covered for half their

lower edge of the upper mandible par

e point; both mandibles
length with short feathers. Nostrils near the
tly concealed by feathers.
and in one species unequal to the purpose of flight.

Toes three before, webbed as far as the el

toes scutellated.

Wings short, narrow,
Legs short, situated far backwards.
aws; hind toe wanting ; front of the tarsi and

Tail short, pointed, and consisting of twelve or sixteen feathers.

GREAT AUK.

Alca impennis, Linn.
Le Pingouin brachiptere.
In this noble species of Auk we recognise a close approximation to the true Pen

Aptenodytes : being, like them, destitute of the powers of flight
for aquatic progression than for any

guins, which form the genus
, its narrow slender wing serves more as an oar
other decided purpose ; unless, perhaps, in assisting the bird to scramble
up the rocks, on the ledges of which it deposits its single egg, which is, indeed, the only time at which it
makes the solid earth its abode.

The seas of the polar regions, agitated with storms

and covered with immense icebergs, form the congenial
habitat of the Great Auk :

here it may be said to pass the whole of its existence, br
with the utmost impunity, so that it is only occasionally seen, and that at dist

as the seas adjacent to the northernmost parts of the British Islands.

aving the severest winters
ant intervals, even so far south

It is found in abundance along the
rugged coasts of Labrador ; and from the circumstance of its having been seen at Spitzbergen, we may

reasonably conclude that its range is extended throughout the whole of the arctic circle, where it may often
be seen tranquilly reposing on masses of floating ice, to the neighbourhood of which in the open ocean it
seems to give a decided preference. Like the common Razorbilled Auk, it exhibits an annual change in the
colours of its throat and neck, the jet black of these parts giving way to white in winter.
Great Auk may be in the powers of flight and of easy unconstrained progression on the land, these deficien-
cies are amply compensated by its extraordinary capability of diving and its express adaptation to the watery
element: here it is truly at ease, following its prey and sporting in the midst of the waves. Its food consists

exclusively of fish of various species, which, however rapid they may be in their motions, it captures with the
utmost facility.

Deficient as the

Its single egg is deposited on the naked rock, either in some natural fissure or crevice just above the reach
of the highest tides ; its colour white tinged with buff, marked with spots and crooked lines of brownish black.
The young take to the water immediately after exclusion from the egg, and follow the adults with fearless
confidence.

There exists but little or no difference between the size or plumage of the sexes. In summer the whole
of the upper surface is black, with the exception of a large white space before the eyes and the tips of the
secondary quill-feathers ; the whole of the under surface white ; bill and legs black, the former being marked
with oblique transverse furrows of a lighter tint.

The Plate represents an adult in its summer dress about two thirds of the natural size.

 

 

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