He Made no Cry

He Made no Cry (Great Auk)

June 3rd, 1844:

‘The rocks were covered with blackbirds [guillemots] and there were the Geirfugles ... They walked slowly. Jón Brandsson crept up with his arms open. The bird that Jón got went into a corner but [mine] was going to the edge of the cliff. It walked like a man ... but moved its feet quickly. [I] caught it close to the edge – a precipice many fathoms deep. Its wings lay close to the sides – not hanging out. I took him by the neck and he flapped his wings. He made no cry. I strangled him.’

After reading this account of the killing of two of the very last Great Auks, by merchants on commission just to gather ‘specimens’ I couldn’t not make this work. It was such a gut-punch. The idea of strangulation so as to not damage the specimen. No stabbing, no shooting, instead the most visceral way of ending something’s life.