1882-83.] Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Chib. 59 



This is the first instance of the occurrence of any remains of this 

 bird in England that we have heard of. But it is to be hoped that 

 further search in both England and Scotland may yet recover from 

 the shell-mounds, kitchen -middens, and cave - dwellings of the 

 ancient inhabitants of our country more bones that belonged to this 

 interesting and extinct bird. We can hardly expect to find any- 

 thing like a complete skeleton in the European region that it in- 

 habited, though such have been obtained from mummy Great Auks 

 found in the frozen deposits of guano on Funk island, off the coast 

 of Newfoundland ; ^ but it is worthy of note that almost all the 

 remains of this bird that have been found in the European shell- 

 mounds are duplicates of the same bones of its body, which were 

 those that were thickest and hardest, such as the lai-ger bones of 

 the wings and legs. It is probably to this that we owe their pre- 

 servation, as they were best able to resist the ravages of time and 

 ex2:)osure. 



The habits of the Great Auk appear to have led it to frequent 

 those isolated situations where, under ordinary circumstances, it 

 would be free from molestation by man, as its want of the power 

 of flight made it so helpless when on land. It is unfortunate that, 

 perhaps owing to this instinctive retirement from places of human 

 existence,^ we know really so little regarding it. One of the best 

 descriptions that we have is that by Martin, who, writing of St 

 Kilda, says : " The sea-fowl are first the Gairfowl, being the state- 

 liest as well as the largest sort, and above the size of a Solan 

 Goose, of a black colour, red about the eyes, a large white spot 

 under each, a long broad bill ; it stands stately, its whole body 

 erected, its wings short, flies not at all ; lays its ^^^ upon the bare 

 rock, which, if taken away, she lays no more for that year. She is 

 whole-footed [web-footed], and has the hatching spot upon her 

 breast — i.e., a bai-e spot from which the feathers have fallen off with 

 the heat in hatching ; its ^^^ is twice as big as that of a Solan 

 Goose, and is variously spotted — black, green, and dark. It comes 

 without regard to any wind, appears the first of May, and goes 

 away about the middle of June." 



The Great Auk appears to be first mentioned as occurring in the 

 American region by Sebastian Cabot ^ in 1497 or 1498, and it was 

 soon greatly valued as food by the early voyagers to those waters, 

 as it could scarcely fly, and was so stupid or fearless, when on 

 shore, that it allowed itself to be driven on board the vessels in 

 immense numbers, by merely stretching sails or planks of wood 



^ 'Annals of Natural History,' third series, Pt. 14. 'Proceedings of 

 Zoological Society, London,' 10th November 1863. 



2 'A Voyage to St Kilda, May 29, 1697,' by M. Martin, Gent. Pub- 

 lished in London, 1753, p. 27. 



^ 'Hakluyt's Voyages,' vol. iii., 1810 (Sebastian Cabot). 



