GREAT AUK. 63 



trata,' priiitecl in 1684. lu June 1697, ' M. Martin, Cxent ' 

 passed three weeks on St. Kilda, and to him we are in- 

 debted for an often-quoted description. In 1758, the 

 Rev. Kenneth Macaulay states, on hearsay from the natives 

 of St. Kilda, that " they do not receive annual visits 

 from this strange bird as from all the rest in the list, and 

 many more"; showing that it was even then becoming 

 scarce. Low, who died in 1795, says in his posthumously- 

 published * Fauna Orcadensis ' (p. 107), that he could not 

 find that it was ever seen in the Orkneys ; but Bullock, who 

 visited that group in 1812, w'as more fortunate, as shown 

 by the following extract from Montagu (Suppl. Orn. Diet. 

 App. A) : — " The natives in the Orknies informed Mr. 

 Bullock on his tour through these islands several years ago, 

 that only one male had made its appearance for a long time, 

 which had regularly visited Papa Westra for several seasons. 

 The female (which the natives call the Queen of the Auks), 

 was killed just before Mr. Bullock's arrival. The King, or 

 male, Mr. Bullock had the pleasure of chasing for several 

 hours in a six-oared boat, but without being able to kill him, 

 for though he frequently got near him, so expert was the bird 

 in its natural element that it appeared impossible to shoot 

 him. The rapidity with which he pursued his course under 

 water was almost incredible." About a fortnight after Mr. 

 Bullock had left Papa Westra, a bird, presumably the 

 same, was obtained and sent to him, and at the sale of his 

 collection was purchased for the British Museum, where it 

 still is. 



In 1821, or 1822, Dr. Fleming, who accompanied Mr. 

 Robert Stevenson on his annual lighthouse inspection, wrote 

 as follows : — " When on the eve of our departure [18th 

 August] from this island [Glass, more commonly known as 

 Scalpa], we got on board a live specimen of the Great Auk 

 (Alca imjyennis), which Mr. Maclellan, the tacksman of 

 Glass, had captured some time before oft* St. Kilda. It was 

 emaciated, and had the appearance of being sickly ; but, in 

 the course of a few days, it became sprightly, having been 

 plentifully supplied with fresh fish, and permitted occasion- 



