Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-07-06
NO Of THE GREAT AUX.
u ;,,ed for Fun by Sailors.
NAV York Sun.l

killed for Fun by Sailors.
New York SUM-
. .o.u Of the aux IL familiar to
the 10, have az read illustrated accounts
s sr1y W voyages to Greenland. 1t was
early pu Vim Of the North Atlantic. It
peass"atty, goose-shsped body, and
ID a.s sp twenty EIGHT to thirty inches
hs 'ton the average. It had wings,
pc ou that we're only between five
PN ;s IN, long, and it was therefore
SIN s, lI of fight. It is pictured in
caP pa sea stories as sitting up solemn
o 1l;aan;tied in ranks along the sand
q a ng the bleakest and most barren
ID o. 90 the sailors approached the
as q, in ~ boats. It was not easily
~ l.a ~ by the approach of man,
sD, a.as apparently its sole enemy.
70 ,n We" disturbed, it waddled away
Is . &c fast as man could walk,
Eo .aa ., very short steps, but taking
| s,nS rapidly. On account of its gait,
ell "s called the wobble in some of the
was VA hooks, such as the work of John
NY .s1yn Gent, on "New England
' ss;tias printed in 1872. Not that
af1 n;rl was a rarity then; on the con-
sr % il was seen in great numbers as
:. s' south on the New England coast as
Yachting center of the United
Istes-Boston.
a ~ that time and for 100 years later
n Nv the custom of many Of the fisher
s a"S frequenting the banks of New
|onndland, particularly the French, to
lt tina, their vessels with the flesh OF
Il aux, killing and sailing down as
fsny as would last for the entire
|ru;e Their method of taking the
(;rls was the simplest possible. The
6Gp's boats were rowed into some
|rpet cove frequented by the auks, and
oored few feet from the land. Then
n blanks were laid from the beach or
y rocks to the gunwales of the boats,
d the auks were driven on board in
|ugle file until the boats were loaded.
man with club knocked them on
g head as they reached the boat, and
mred them under the thwarts. The
n seldom offered any resistance, but
[casionally it would snap at man
L,h its stout bill, and would infiict
krv painful wounds. In such cases,
ke old accounts say, the sailors skinned
L birds alive out of revenge.
When driving the birds on the boats
was necessary to station man with
club on each side of the gangplank to
eep them from dropping off into the
|aer Once afoat the awkward wad-
(e becomes the swiftest and most
(aceiul of motions. No other water
|vl could approach the wonderful
beed Of the aux on the water; indeed
could swim as rapidly rs some of the
|ore numbering birds could fly.
Although on account of its fishy food
WAS somewhat oily when in good con-
|tlon, it was nevertheless so much es-
|emed by the sailors that its numbers
diminished continually from the time
|e banks of New Foundland began to
much frequented, so that by the be-
inning of the Nineteenth Century it
Bs no longer hunted for food. So few
ere to be had that they were not
Drth the time required to take them.
owever, in the year 1907, British
'ivateer varied its occupations of pur-
ling French merchant vessels and
pressing Yankee sailors by going to
lie islands off Iceland for supply of
ssh aux meat. Great numbers of the
rds were killed, many being left dead
at could not be removed because the
lip had all she could use. Three
ars later the people of the Farce
lands, being threatened with starva-
N on account of a failure Of the fish
les, visited Iceland and about COM
eted the destruction begun by the
ivateer.
HAT the aux never recovered from
csc blows, even. on the coasts best
ted for its maintenance, was due to
e fact that the aux laid but one egg
year 1t made no nest but deposited
e egg on the bare rock. It was an
to1lshingly large egg, averaging
'arly five by three inches in length
a diameter. It was shaped much
te ing California pear, being very
l1ll at one end, popularity of all
fds' eggs that were laid in exposed
aces as this was. Being small at one
ii 1t would. when the wind moved it,
npiy roll around in the arc of very
,aIl circle. It was of creamy white
.or lrregularly marked with brown
ID black patches,