NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 17 



to Giraud by Audubon himself. Neither Giraud nor myself has further kuow- 

 ledge of it than what is contained in Audubon's -works.'' 



Concerning Mr. Audubon's specimen, Mr. Cassin remarks (B. N. A., p. 901), 

 that it was " obtained by him (Mr. A.) on the banks of Newfoundland ;" upon 

 which statement Mr. A. Newton (Ibis, Oct., 1862) observes: "In 1857 I was 

 assured by Mr. Bell, the well-known taxidermist at New York, who knew Mr. 

 Audubon intimately, that he never possessed but one specimen of this bird ; 

 and if we turn to Prof. MacGillivray's ' History of British Birds ' (vol. v. p. 359), 

 we find him saying that he never saw but two examples of the species, one in 

 the British Museum, and ' the other belonging to Mr. Audubon, and procured 

 by him in London.^ " This serves to throw some little light on the history of 

 the specimen now in the Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 



In the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for 1864, p. 235, is given, by 

 Mr. Robert Champley, "a list of the present possessors of the birds, skeletons 

 and eggs of the Alca impennis ;" this gentleman being cognizant of the exist- 

 ence of twenty-seven skins, six skeletons, and fifty-three eggs. Dr. G. Hart- 

 laub (Bericht iib. d. Leist. in d. Naturg. der Vogel for 18G4) remarks upon this 

 enumeration : " Es ist dieses Verzeichniss indessen sehr unvollstandig. So z. 

 B. geschicht des schonen Exemplares der Bremer Sammlung so wie des pracht- 

 vollen Ei's im Museum zu Oldenbung keine Erwahnung." Mr. A. Newton, 

 on the subject of existing specimens, has (1. c.) the following: "If all the 

 stories we received can be credited, the whole number M^ould reach eighty- 

 seven. I should imagine sixtj' to be about the real amount ;" and again : " It 

 is pretty evident that most of the specimens of the Great Auk and its eggs, 

 which now exist in collections, were obtained from Eldey between the years 

 1830 and 1844.* 



Two eggs are contained in the Philadelphia Academy's collection. 



Mr. Alfred Newton's paper in the "Ibis" for October, 1862, entitled "Ab- 

 stract of Mr. J. Wolley's Researches in Iceland respecting the Gare-Fowl or 

 Great Auk (Alca impennis, Linn.)," is exceedingly valuable, being one of the 

 most complete and satisfactory histories of the bird ever published; and may 

 be consulted with the greatest pleasure and profit. The writer is at special 

 pains to correct the very prevalent erroneous impression, that the Great Auk 

 is a bird of high latitudes. His researches warrant his belief that " the Gare- 

 fowl has probably never once occurred within the arctic circle." Mr. Selby's 

 statement (Brit. Orn., ii. p. 433) of its occurrence in Spitzbergen is shown to 

 be unfounded ; and notices of its occurrence in Northern Norway and in Green- 

 land are proven to be not wholly worthy of confidence. Mr. Newton brings 

 his extremely interesting history of the bird, as an inhabitant of Iceland, down 

 to the year 1844, when the last birds known to have occurred were caught and 

 killed ; and as these may be regarded by some as the last of their race, he gives 

 the particulars of their capture. Mr. WoUey and himself obtained many spe- 

 cimens of bones, but found no traces of the living birds, though he says : " I 

 think there is yet a chance of the Great Auk still existing in Iceland." 



UTAMANIA Leach. 



Alca, LinnEEUs, Syst. Nat. 1758 ; and of most authors. Tj-pe A. torda L. 

 Diomedea, Scopoli, 1777, fide G. R. Gray. Not of authors. 

 Torda, Dumeril, Zool. Anal. etc. 1806. Same type. 



Utamania, h^&Q.h., "Syst. Cat. etc. 1816;" Steph. Cont. Shaw's Gen. Zool. 

 xiii. 1825; and of many authors. Same type. 

 Size moderate ; form stout, compact, heavy ; head moderate, anteriorly pro- 

 duced, neck thick. Wings of moderate length, but fully developed, admitting 



*''Li'it'< of these, which are in the main correct, though I know of a few that are omitted, 

 have latelv appeared in the 'Zoologist' for the present year [1862], pp. 73.13 and 7380, and 

 almoot feinuiltaneously in the 'Field' newspaper (Nos. 423 and 424, pp. 93, 114). Further 

 remarks on them will be found in the former journal (pp. 7387 and 7438;."— ^ewton, 1. c. 



1868.] 2 



