Plate CCCXLI. Adult.
Bill rather longer than the head, its dorsal line convexo-declinate,
upper mandible with a basal and eight terminal grooves, lower with
ten or twelve grooves; wings diminutive, much pointed, the primaries
tapering to an acute point, the first longest, secondaries broad,
scarcely longer than their coverts; tail short, of fourteen feathers;
bill black, with the grooves white; feet black; head, neck, and upper
parts black, the throat and sides of the neck tinged with
chocolate-brown, the wings with greyish-brown, the head, hind neck,
and back glossed with olive-green; fore part of neck below and all the
lower parts white, as are a large oblong patch before each eye, and
the tips of the secondary quills.
_Adult_, 29, 27-1/4.
Rare and accidental on the Banks of Newfoundland; said to breed on a
rock near that island.
Great Auk, Alca impennis, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 553.
Great Auk, Alca impennis, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 316.