xxxvi. THE GANNET 



kept by him and his brother at Elveden ("Norwich 

 Naturahsts' Trans : " 1870-1, i)p. 24-32). It has been 

 well said of Alfred Newton that he held a unique 

 position among zoologists in this country. This was so, 

 and there are many who can testify to the literary help 

 which he was always ready to give. In the furtherance 

 of our Gannet researches, his Hberality in lending books 

 and pamphlets from his well-stocked shelves — one of the 

 best bird-reference libraries ever brought together — was 

 as great as his readiness to translate passages from Icelandic 

 and Latin authors, which bore upon the Gannet's history. 

 I owe him all the more thanks because he was at the time 

 when I applied to him for assistance with this Gannet book , 

 busily putting together materials, which it had taken him 

 years to collect, for a History of the Great Auk, seven 

 eggs of which extinct bird he bequeathed to the University 

 Museum at Cambridge. 



On turning over the many letters which, though busy 

 to the last, he found time to write, I see that the final one 

 — received on May 6th, 1907, less than a month before his 

 death— has reference to the Gannetries in Canada. As it 

 is an interesting letter, and his last, I hope it will be no 

 breach of confidence to transcribe a part of it : after 

 expressing regret at the loss of one of the unpinioned 

 Gannets on my pond, which had taken advantage of a gale 

 of wind to fly away, he continues, in answer to a question 

 about his eggs : — 



"... My series of Gannets' eggs is certainly good, 

 but it is not what it ought to be, for Stack of Stack and 

 Skerry is not represented, and one does not know from 



