1882-83.] Edinburgh Naturalists Field Club. 61 



died, and that its body was cast asllore at Gourock.^ Of all the 

 specimens, perhaps more has been written about this one than any 

 other, but we have no space for a longer notice. In May 1834, two 

 Great Auks were captured near the entrance to Waterford harbour, 

 and one of these is now preserved in the Museum of Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dublin, but the other was unfortunately destroyed, through 

 the ignorance of its captors.- This is j^robably the last authentic 

 recorded occurrence of this bird on the British coasts ; but it is 

 stated that two were seen in Belfast Bay during 1845,^ — and this is 

 worthy of note, as, if it is correct, it is a year later than the date 

 at which the last Great Auks were killed on Eldey, off the coast of 

 Iceland.^ 



It is recorded that several Great Auks were, from time to time, 

 seen or caught on the French side of the English Channel ; Ibut 

 they were all observed early in the century.^ A dead bird is said 

 to have been found near Fredericksstad, in Norway, during the 

 winter of 1838.^ 



The station, however, at which Great Auks lingered longest was 

 Iceland, where they had several rocky skerries on which to breed 

 that were difficult of access from the stormy sea with which they 

 were surrounded. But by a volcanic subsidence that occurred in 

 1830, their principal breeding- station, named the Geirfuglasker, 

 situated off Reykjavik, disappeared beneath the waves, and imme- 

 diately afterwards a colony of these birds appeared at Eldey, a 

 skerry which lies much nearer the main island ; and it was here 

 that a number of specimens were got, until what is believed to 

 have been the last pair of living Great Auks were killed at the 

 beginning of June 1844,^ and their intestines and other internal 

 organs are now preserved in the Royal Museum, Copenhagen.* But 

 what became of their skins, bones, and other remains, appears to be 

 unknown.^ 



As far as we have been able to ascertain, the known remains of 

 the Great Auk may be totalled as follows : skins, 72 (or 74 '?) ; skele- 

 tons, 9 ; number of birds represented by detached bones, 90 (or 



1 'Birds of the West of Scotland,' R. Gray (1871), pp. 441-453. 

 '^ Thomson : ' Birds of Ireland,' vol. iii. p. 238. 

 3 Ibid., p. 239. 



* "The Garefowl and its Historians," in 'Natural History Review,' 1865 

 (Prof. Newton). 



^ 'Degland Ornithologie Eur.,' vol. ii. p. 529. Also M. Hardy's 'Cata- 

 logue des Oiseaux de la Seine-Inferieure.' 



6 " The Garefowl and its Historians," in 'Natural History Review,' 1865, 

 p. 469 (Prof. Newton). 



7 Mr J. WoUey's Researches. 'Ibis,' vol. iii. (1861) p. 392. 



^ 'Proceedings of Royal Society, Edinburgh,' 1879-80, p. 679 (Robt. Gray, 

 Esq.). 



• Videnskabdige Meddeleser, 1855, Nos. iii. -vii. Prof. Steenstrup's Paper, 

 p. 78. 



VOL. I. E 



