258 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



the Australian genus Nestor. When the island was first dis- 

 covered, this bird was known to make use of its brush-like 

 tongue in gathering honey from the various flowers, and in 

 feeding upon the berries of the plants belonging to its neigh- 

 borhood, this diet being varied by the capture of an occasion- 

 al insect. It now appears that the first change consisted in 

 its resorting to the scaffolds used by the settlers for drying 

 meat, and then to the sheep-skins suspended in the air. Now 

 it has become the veritable pest of the country, from its habit 

 of lighting upon the backs of sheep and picking away the 

 wool, and then tearing out the flesh, thus causing a peculiar 

 sore, which was originally supposed to be a new kind of dis- 

 ease, and not until quite recently was it ascertained that it 

 was due to the attacks of the kea parrot. 12 A, October 19, 

 1871,489. 



EXISTING SPECIMENS OF THE GREAT AUK. 



According to a late paper by Mr. Victor Fatio, published 

 in the Bulletin of the Swiss Ornithological Society, the total 

 number of the skins of the (probably now extinct) great auk 

 in Europe and in the United States amounts to seventy-one, 

 or possibly seventy-two. Of these, four are in the United 

 States, namely, one in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 

 Sciences ; one at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie ; one at the 

 Smithsonian Institution, Washington ; and one in the pos- 

 session of Mr. Robert L. Stuart, intended for the New York 

 Museum of Natural History. Seven skeletons are enumer- 

 ated as existing in Europe, and two (one?) in the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Of 

 eggs, the author enumerates sixty-three specimens in Europe, 

 and two in the United States, of which one belongs to the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, and the other is in the Muse- 

 um of the Smithsonian Institution, having been presented to 

 it by the Philadelphia Academy. This enumeration of the 

 remains of this bird is believed to be very nearly accurate ; 

 and although a few more specimens may yet be detected in 

 local museums, it is not likely that the total can be much in- 

 creased. The limited number extant will sufficiently explain 

 the high price which specimens of both skins and eggs bring- 

 when offered for sale, the sums obtained for the former vary- 

 ing from $500 to $1500, and for the latter from $250 to $350. 



