62 alcidj:. 



destruction of the last-known individuals of the species was 

 even then on the point of accomplishment. Another forty 

 years have elapsed since the latest authenticated exam- 

 ples were obtained on Eldey near Iceland, and there can 

 now be little doubt that this species must be added to the 

 number of those which have been exterminated by the agency 

 of man ; but inasmuch as the species, so long as it survived, 

 was thoroughly entitled to a place in the British list, the 

 present Edition would be incomplete without a notice of it, 

 albeit ' In Memoriam.' 



Foremost among the British historians of the Great Auk 

 is Professor Newton, whose contributions, entitled ' An Ab- 

 stract of Mr. J. Wolley's Researches in Iceland concerning 

 the Gare-fowl' (Ibis, 1861, p. 374) ; ' The Gare-fowl and its 

 Historians ' (Nat. Hist. Rev. v. p. 467) ; and articles in the 

 'Encyclopaedia Britannica,' Ed. 9, under 'Birds' (Vol. III.), 

 and under ' Gare-fowl ' (Yol. X.) ; are alike remarkable for 

 their condensed information and for their correction of 

 errors. Valuable also are the notes ' On the Great Auk,' 

 by Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. (Zool. s.s. pp. 1442, 1639); Prof. 

 John Milne's ' Relics of the Great Auk ' (Field, 27th March, 

 3rd and 10th April, 1875), giving an account of the writer's 

 visit to Funk Island, off Newfoundland, followed by an ex- 

 cellent sketch of the literature of the subject ; and Dr. J. 

 A. Smith's ' Notice of the Remains of the Great Auk in 

 Caithness ' (Pr. Soc. Antiq. Scot. xiii. pp. 76-105). To the 

 above, especially, and to others too numerous for mention, 

 the Editor has been much indebted in the compilation of the 

 following, and necessarily brief notice. As regards the 

 anatomy. Professor Owen's ' Description of the Skeleton of 

 the Great Auk ' (Tr. Zool. Soc. v. p. 317) is well known ; 

 and amongst foreign writers the names of Steenstrup, 

 Preyer, V. Fatio, and Blasius stand conspicuous. 



The earliest mention of the Great Auk, under the name 

 of Gare-fowl, in the British Islands, occurs in the ' Account 

 of Hirta [St. Kildaj and Rona, &c., by the Lord Register, 

 Sir George McKenzie of Tarbat,' probably written a little 

 before Sir R. Sibbald's brief allusion in his ' Scotia Illus- 



