472 THE NATUEIL niSTOUT REVIEW. 



symptoms of actual disappearance, or whether these assertions (so 

 different from those of Martin sixty years before) are to be attri- 

 buted to less accurate information on the part of Macaulay, we sball 

 now never know. 



In 1821 or 1822* Fleming accompanied Mr. Eobert Stevenson 

 in his annual voyage to inspect the northern lighthouses. The former 

 writes : — 



" "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 Grreat Auk (Mca impennis), which Mr. Mac- 

 lellan, the tacksman of Glass, had captured some time before oif 

 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 fresb fish, and permitted occasionally 

 to sport [ ! ] in the water, with a cord fastened to one of its legs, 

 to prevent escape. Even in this state of restraint, it performed the 

 motions of diving and swimming under water, with a rapidity that 

 set all pursuit from a boat at defiance. A few white feathers 

 were at this time making their appearance on the sides of its neck 

 and throat, which increased consideral)ly during the following week, 

 and left no room to doubt, that, like its congeners, the blackness of 

 the throat feathers of summer is exchanged for white, during the 

 winter season." — {Udinh. Phil. Journ. vol. x. pp. 9G, 97.) 



And in his ' History of British Animals' (p. 130) he adds, "When 

 fed in confinement it holds up its head, expressing its anxiety by 

 shaking the head and neck, and uttering a gurgling noise." This 

 example is said, by various authors of late, to have made its escape, 

 but we are unable to discover the original source of the statement. 

 Prof William M'Gillivray, after referring to its capture OS'S. Kilda, 

 declares that " Anotber was obtained there in 1829 by Mr. Murdocli 

 M'Lellan, and presented to the late Mr. Stephenson (qu. Stevenson ?) 

 who intended it for the Edinburgh Museum ; but it afterwards made 

 its escape." We are inclined to think that some confusion has been 

 made, and it is possible the alleged specimen of 1829 was in reality 

 only that of 1821 or 1822. f Nothing more remains to us of the 



* In the series of papers in the * Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,' in which 

 Fleming describes the voyage, the date 1821 is uniformly given, but in the same 

 aiithor's ' History of British Animals,' the following year is assigned. We have no 

 means of determining which statement is correct, nor docs it much matter. 



t The assertion respecting the alleged S. Kilda bird of 1829 may have had its 

 origin in the misunderstanding of a statement made by Dr. Edward Moore, who 



