Orcadian Home of the Garefoivl. 591 



could be easily avoided. If there were, as tradition has it, but 

 a single " King and Queen of the Auks " to occupy these 

 wide slopes, the choice of a spot for the royal incunabulum 

 would be great indeed. Of course all our party — consisting 

 of Mr. Evans, Colonel Bolland, and Mr. Joseph Whitaker — 

 landed, and we passed some time on this interesting spot, of 

 which Mr. Evans obtained several photographs. I cannot 

 doubt that it was the true home of the species whose extir- 

 pation, so far as Orkney is concerned, was compassed in 1813 

 by Bullock*. 



A good many books have been written about Orkney, and 

 I think I must have read most of them. So far as I am 

 aware, there is no evidence of the occurrence of the Gare- 

 fowl upon any of the islands or in Orcadian waters f^ before 

 Bullock made known the experience of his first visit in the 

 summer of 1812, as originally announced by Montagu (Suppl. 

 Orn. Diet., Appendix) in 1813, the very year in which the 

 last example, whose remains are now in the British Museum, 

 was killed. The testimony of Low, who died in 1795, is 

 that he had "often inquired about the Great Auk especially, 

 but cannot find it is ever seen here" J. I am therefore much 



* We also traversed the greater part of the islet, which is mostly 

 covered with beautiful short grass, and contaius a few small pools. We 

 saw several species of birds in addition to those noticed by Mr. Buckley on 

 his visit ten years ago, though only such as might well be expected to 

 occnr there, as Starling, Sky-Lark, Rock-Lark, Ringed Plover, Lapwing, 

 Redshank, Snipe, Common Gull, Eider-Duck, and Merganser, besides 

 finding some feathers of a Sheldrake, and one which seemed to have 

 belonged to a Teal. On the other hand, several species seen by Mr. Buckley 

 were not observed by lis, cas Grey Grow, Twite, Cuckow, and Rock-Dove. 

 A great change must have come over the islet since Salmon's visit in 

 183L I think there were not fifty pairs of Gulls upon it this year; he 

 speaks {ut supra) of '' several thousands." Sic semper! 



t Baikie and Heddle, in 1848, said (Hist. Nat. Oread, p. 88) that 

 " One was seen off Fair Isle in June, 1798"; but I do not know whence 

 the information is derived, and, at any rate, the Fair Island is not one of 

 the Orkneys. 



t Through the loss of Low's Journal of 1778, when he explored the 

 northern islands of the group, we do not know whether he was ever upon 

 Papa Westray or its Holm. If he was there, since he had no tidings of 

 the bird, we may be sure it did not exist there then. 



