Auk n. (Zool.) A name given to various species of arctic sea birds of the family Alcidae. The great auk, now extinct, is Alca impennis (or Plautus impennis). The razor-billed auk is Alca torda. See Puffin, Guillemot, and Murre.
... rarely or never swim, would possess webbed feet; that a thrush-like bird should dive and feed on sub-aquatic insects; and that a petrel should have the habits and structure fitting it for the life of an auk! and so in endless other cases. But on the view of each species constantly trying to increase in number, with natural selection always ready to adapt the slowly varying descendants of each to any unoccupied or ill-occupied place in nature, these facts cease to be strange, ... — Little Masterpieces of Science: - The Naturalist as Interpreter and Seer • Various
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