350 GREAT AUK. 



colour : bright blue, pea green, brown, reddish buff, 

 cream, white, being amongst them. The blotchings 

 and streaks vary quite as much as the ground colour ; 

 some eggs are thickly marked, others hardly at all ; 

 the markings are mostly of some dark colour, blackish 

 brown, and pink of various tints being amongst them. 

 It is said that when the young Guillemot is ready 

 to leave its birthplace it is carried to the sea on its 

 mother's back. 



The upper plumage of the Guillemot is dark brown, 

 tinted with blackish grey on the back, neck brown, and 

 under parts white ; a very narrow white band goes 

 across the wings. 



Other rarer birds of the Faiiiily Ale idee : — 

 GREAT AUK. 



ALGA IMPENNIS. 



Genus Alga. 



This extraordinary looking and interesting bird is 

 now an extinct species ; the last birds having expired 

 some fifty years ago. The Great Auk wa« an inhabi- 

 tant of the lands in the North Atlantic, its limits 

 southwards being St. Kilda, where it was formerly a 

 regular summer visitor. Its eggs, of which there are 

 very few in existence, are consequently much sought 

 after by collectors, and fabulous prices are paid when 

 one comes into the market; 160 guineas was paid in 

 1888 by Mr. Leopold Field for an egg of this species, 

 the highest price ever given up to that time for an 

 egg, and many of us at Oueenwood had the privilege 

 of seeing this shell, worth many times more than its 



