160 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



Recent Information about the Great Auk or Garefowl. By Symington Grieve. 

 Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. 



This is a reprint of the Presidential address of the Edinburgh Field Natural- 

 ists and Microscopical Society for 1888. It is a brief sketch of the history of 

 the Great Auk and its extermination, with a detailed account of where its 

 remains, such as stuffed specimen, eggs, bones, skeleton, &c, are to be found. 



The chief home of this bird used to be Newfoundland and the North Ameri- 

 can coasts ; we need not be surprised at its extermination, as it was a very 

 stupid bird, hatched only a single egg each season, and was good for food. 

 They are described as having been got on boardship by the ton ; they were 

 then salted down in barrels like herrings. 



The capture of what are believed to have been the last two Great Auks took 

 place on the coast of Iceland, June 1884 ; its last authentic occurrence in 

 Great Britain was in 1821, when one was captured at St. Kilda. 



Various reported occurrences of a later date are then discussed, but there is 

 no sufficient proof for any later record. 



We then come to the record of the whereabouts of the Great Auk remains. 



The following is a summary of existing remains : — 



Total No. of Birds 

 represented. 



Skins 78 or 79 



Skeletons, more or less complete 21 or 24 



Detached bones 841 or 851 



Physiological preparations 2 or 3 



Eggs 67 or 69 



Of these remains, perhaps the eggs are the most interesting ; some attention 

 has lately been drawn to them by two having not long ago been sold by auction 

 in London, and having realized enormous prices ; one of these was sold in 

 December 1887, and was bought by Mr. Field for £168 : another was bought 

 in 1851 for £1, from Williams of London by Mr. H. Holland; Mr. Holland's 

 daughter, Mrs. Wise, into whose possession it passed, sold it in March 1888 by 

 auction, when it was bought by Gardiner, dealer in Natural History wares, 

 for £225. 



In England, Lord Lilford has a collection of five eggs, and Mr. Champley of 

 Scarborough has nine. 



To show how the prices of these eggs have risen, I will give the prices at 

 which some have changed hands :— 1859, £18 ; 1861, Napoleons 5 ; 1864 

 £24, £25, £30, £45; 1882, £110. 



The pamphlet is illustrated by two woodcuts of the Great Auk, and its price 



is half-a- crown. 



E. F. B, 



