EXPLORATIONS IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR IN 1887, 

 MADE IN CONNECTION WITH THE CRUISE OF THE 



C. S, FISH COMMISSION' SCHOONER GRAMPUS* 



By Frederic A. Lucas, 

 Assistant Curator of the Department of Comparative Anatomy. 



In tbe spring - of 1S87 the writer was detailed by Professor Baird to 

 accompany tbe U. S. Fisb Commission schooner Grampus on a cruise 

 to northeastern Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, primarily 

 to obtain, if possible, bones of the Great Auk; secondarily to collect 

 such other specimens as might be obtainable. Two years earlier Pro- 

 fessor Baird had approved a proposed plan of visiting Funk Islaud, 

 off Cape Freels, Newfoundland, a former breeding place of the Great 

 Auk, in the hope of finding remains of that extinct bird, but the many 

 difficulties in the way precluded carrying this plan into effect until the 

 building of the Grampus and her projected trip made it feasible. From 

 a scientific standpoint it was extremely desirable to secure bones of the 

 Great Auk, since up to 1887 there were but nine skeletons of that species 

 preserved in museums, only one being in the United States, while the 

 U. S. National Museum possessed but a single bone. Even viewed 

 commercially, a collection of Auk bones would be of considerable value, 

 since the small number of existing specimens had caused them to bring 

 a high price whenever brought into the market.! 



It was eminently fitting that a search for remains of the Great Auk 

 should be undertaken in CDunection with fishery researches, since this 

 bird once formed an important factor in the prosecution of the early 



* This report is supplementary to the paper by Mr. Lucas, entitled "Tbe Expedi- 

 tion to Funk Islaud, with Observations upon tbe History aud Anatomy of tbe Great 

 Auk," in tbe Report of tbe National Museum for 1888. It was at first intended for 

 publication in tbe Report of tbe U. S. Fisb Commission. Certain statements con- 

 cerning tbe Great Auk in Mr. Lucas's previous paper are repeated in this report, but 

 it is believed that they arc essential in this connection for the proper understanding 

 of the narrative. For fuller details concerning the Great Auk and its extinction, 

 tbe reader is referred to the Report of the National Museum for 1888, and for detailed 

 noteson the birds collected see report of William Palmer, in Proceedings U. S. National 

 Museum, vol. XIII, pp. 249-2f>.~>. 



tin this connection it may be of interest to state that one of the skeletons col- 

 lected by the Grampus expedition and exchanged for natural history specimens with 

 a London dealer, was sold by him to the Museum of Science and Arts, Edinburgh, 

 for £120, or about $G00. 



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