390 Mr. A. Newton on Mr. J. Wolley's Researches 



bird was given to the Crown Prince (the present King of Den- 

 mark), who then happened to be in Iceland, and subsequently- 

 passed into the possession of the late Herr Mechlenburg. The 

 remaining eight were purchased by Herr Thomsen, just men- 

 tioned, whose son most obligingly showed Mr. Wolley an 

 account of the transaction in his father's books. They were 

 skinned by Madame Thomsen and her sister, Jomfrue A. C. 

 Lewer, who informed us that they were opened under the wing, 

 and the skins stuffed with hay, the bones being wrapped I'ound 

 with hemp. The eggs were quite fresh, and were blown by the 

 two ladies. All these specimens were disposed of to Herr De 

 Liagre, a dealer at Hamburg, and, I may add, I think that one 

 of the eggs now in my possession belonged to this lot. In 

 August 1840 or 1841, three skins, as many eggs, and the body 

 of a bird in spirit were bought of Factor Chr. Thase, now living 

 at Copenhagen, by Herr S. Jacobsen, who told us that he 

 parted with them either to Herr Seining, a naturalist at Ham- 

 burg, or to Mr. Jamrach, the well-known dealer. Two of 

 these birds, or else two more some other year, were obtained 

 by one Stephan Sveinsson of Kalmanstjorn, whom the good 

 people of Kyrkjuvogr seem to look upon as a kind of poacher 

 on what they consider their rightful domain. Certain it is 

 that on one occasion Herr Thase bought two birds of this 

 Stephan, as the latter informed us, but the exact date is not so 

 clear. 



The last Gare-fowls known to have occurred in Iceland were 

 two in number, caught and killed in 1844 by a ])arty, of which 

 our excellent host at Kyrkjuvogr, Vilhjalmur Hakonarsson, was 

 the leader. They were bought, singularly enough, by Herr 

 Christian Hansen, son of th^t Hansen I have before alluded to 

 as having been (though, in the first instance, against his will) so 

 dread a scourge to the race. From him they passed to Herr 

 Miiller, then the apothecary at Reykjavik, who, previously to 

 having them skinned, prevailed upon M.Vivien (a French artist) 

 to paint a picture of one of the dead birds, which picture now 

 hangs in the house of his successor, Herr Randrup, the present 

 apothecary in the capital of Iceland. As many persons may 

 regard these birds as the latest survivors of their species, I may 



