Flightless Cormorant

"In his 1936 biography of Steller, Leonhard Stejneger described the bird:The flightless spectacled cormorant is another of Steller's sensational discoveries - sensational not only because its wings were too small to carry its gigantic body, but chiefly because - like the sea cow - it is known only from Bering Island and was exterminated by ruthless hunting. Steller, the only naturalist to see the bird alive, and his comrades were able to vary their fresh meat diet of sea-otter and seal with roasts of this stupid bird, which was as large as a goose, weighing 12 to 14 pounds, 'so that one single bird was sufficient for three starving men.' Ordinarily cormorants are not considered particularly savory eating, but Steller avers that when properly prepared according to the method employed by the Kamtchadals, namely by burying it encased - feathers and all - in a big lump of clay and baking it in a heated pit, it was a palatable and juicy morsel."