The end of the great auk as a member of the world's wildlife is told [in "The Great Auk"] as a novel. In a powerful and poetic flow [Mr. Eckert] traces the brief life of a single great auk from its hatching on Edley Island in the North Atlantic until its fatal return two years later to the same island, where it and its mate represent the last two great auks on earth.

It is a compelling drama which includes rich descriptions of the teeming fish and animal life of the North Atlantic. As the story unfolds, even though the reader knows the inevitable end, he retains a hopeless hope that this noble bird will somehow escape destruction by an uncaring world. But the inescapable fact is always present and the author, in a beautifully written book, personally involves the reader in the tragedy of the extinction of...