256 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vi. 



GLOSSY IBISES IN NORFOLK. 



The unfortunate Glossy Ibises seem to have had a bad time 

 of it in Essex (cf. supra, p. 223), and I am sorry to say they 

 fared no better in Norfolk, two having been shot, one at 

 rieggburgh on November 1st, and one at Burgh Castle on 

 December 2nd, 1912. They were forwarded for preservation 

 to Mr. E. C. Saunders, from whom I learn that one of them, 

 a male, is a very large bird. There seems to be a great dif- 

 ference in size, which I noticed in the sexes of those collected 

 by Mr. Gerard Gurney in East Africa. J. H. Gurney. 



[A Glossy Ibis was recorded by " B " in Country Life of 

 October 26th as having been shot " last week in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Balsham, Cambridgeshire." Although no exact 

 particulars are forthcoming and anonymous records are of 

 little value, this may be mentioned for what it may be worth. 

 Mr. Miller Christy has kindly pointed out this record, and 

 informs us that Balsham is on the northern border of Essex 

 and only some forty miles west-north-A\est from Walton 

 where the other Glossy Ibises were shot. — Eds.] 



SALE OF A GREAT AUK'S EGG. 



At the dispersal by auction of the first portion of Major F. W. 

 Proctor's collection of eggs of western Palsearctic birds, 

 which took place at J. C. Stevens's Rooms, King Street, 

 Co vent Garden, on Thursday, November 21st, 1912, the 

 sale-catalogue (No. 12-248) contained a slip of pink 

 paper, and on it an announcement of the sale of an egg of 

 the Great Auk {Alca impennis) in the following words: "This 

 beautifully marked egg, the very finest of its type, formed 

 part of a Natural History Collection which was the property 

 of Mr. W. Sheppard of Bristol, in 1807, and was purchased 

 by Mr. Shirley of Ettington, about 1820." The egg did not 

 come on for sale till about 4 p.m., when the bidding started 

 at 150 guineas, advancing gradually to 220 guineas, at which 

 sum it was knocked doA\Ti to the firm of RoA\]and Ward. Ltd., 

 of Piccadilly, London. The Field, of Noveml^er 23rd. records 

 the price given as 230 guineas. I ^\as present at the sale, 

 and felt sure that the lower sum ^hich I marked off in my 

 sale-catalogue was correct, and on AM-iting to Messrs. J. C. 

 Stevens, I was informed that 220 guineas was the amount 

 paid for the egg. Thinking that a full history, so far as is 

 kno\Mi, of this finely marked egg may be interesting to the 

 readers of British Birds, I give an extract from pp. 28 and 29 

 of my pamphlet on The Great Auk, a Reeord of Sales of Birds 

 and Eggs by Public Auction in Great Britain, 1806-1910. 



