Volume 40, Plate XVI / Ornithology (Birds)

Great Auk

Alcus impennis

An auk of ample size and extreme rarity, some thirty inches to three feet long, the black bill four inches with white-grooved furrows, a large white oval patch around the eye, black head, neck, back, wings, and tail, and white breast and belly. Flightless and laying a single large spotted egg on bare rock, very few specimens have ever been seen, and it appears equally rare in northern Europe and America.