2o8 The Irish Naturalist. [August, 



THE DISCOVERY OF BONES OF THE GREAT AUK 



IN COUNTY WATERFORD. 



BY R. J, USSPIER. 



I RECENTLY sent to Professor Newton some birds' bones, found 

 by me in kitchen-middens on the coast of this count}^ from 

 which I have also obtained bones or horns of Ox, Goat, Horse, 

 Pig, Red Deer, and domestic fowl ; an abundance of shells of 

 Oysters, Cockles, Mussels, and Limpets, with many pot-boilers 

 or burned stones. I have just received back the birds' bones 

 from Professor Newton, who kindl}^ writes as follows : — 



" Cambridge, 8th June, 1897. 



"I think all but two of them are fairly determined, thanks 

 to the care bestowed on them b}^ Dr. Gadow. The real work 

 of determination was done by him, though I have gone over it 

 for my own satisfaction. I congratulate 3'Ou on possessing 

 remains of at least two Great Auks, for you will notice that the 

 two coracoids are of the same side. I hope 3^ou will duly 

 record the occurrence of Alca impcnnis. Read in the light of 

 these relics, Mr. Davis's famous bird of 1834 must have been 

 visiting the home of its forefathers." 



On the 14th June, accompanied by Mr. Percy Manning, I 

 revisited the kitchen-middens, and we picked up some 

 additional birds' bones, which I submitted to Dr. Gadow, who 

 again kindly determined them. They contained a humerus, 

 tibia, and metatarsus of Great Auk. 



Bones of this extinct bird have been found in the kitchen- 

 middens of Denmark, in one or two places in Scotland, in 

 Durham, and on the North American coast. More recently, 

 Mr. Knowles, of Ballymena, has found them on the Co. 

 Antrim coast. ^ I am glad to be able to corroborate his dis- 

 coveries, and to show that the range of the Great Auk ex- 

 tended in Ireland nearly as far south as 52^ N. latitude ; and 

 I should like to know if its remains have been found so far 

 south in Europe before. Careful search should be made for 

 similar remains in kitchen-middens on other parts of the Irish 

 coast, and those who do so should bear in mind that no bit of 

 birds' bone obtained from such a source should be discarded 

 until examined by a competent expert. 



I wish to express my obligations to Dr. Gadow, to whose 

 painstaking kindness we owe the knowledge of this interesting 

 discovery. _^^ 



'^ Proc R. Irish Academy C3), Vol. iii., 1895, No. 4, pp. 650-663. 



