1887-88.] Recent Notes on the Great Auk. 99 



shot by Herr Laurenz Brodtkorb, near Vardo, Varanger Fjord, 

 East Finmark, in 1848. Professor Steenstrup, who first re- 

 ferred to this supposed occurrence of the Great Auk as far 

 back as 1855, has no doubt in his own mind that the hird was 

 certainly not a Garefoiol, and he had much better opportuni- 

 ties at that comparatively recent period after its supposed 

 observation to get accurate information. His opinion has also 

 been shared by most subsequent writers. However, the fol- 

 lowing interesting statements, published by Professor Eobert 

 Collett of Christiania in his valuable paper, " tjber Alca im- 

 pennis in Norwegen," — ' Mittheilungen des Ornithologischen 

 Vereins in Wien, 1884,' translated from German, are worth re- 

 cording for English-reading students of alcine history. Professor 

 R Collett (referring to the statements made by Professor J. 

 Steenstrup in his ' Bidrag til Geirfuglens ISTaturhistorie,' &c., 

 1885, p. 95, as well as Nilsson in his " Skandinaviens 

 Fauna," 1858 (' Foglarne,' p. 571), and Professor William Bla- 

 sius in his ' tJber die letzen Vorkoramnisse des Pdesen-Alks,' 

 1881-82 and 1882-83, p. 97, "Alca impennis," &c.), says: — 



I have, however, been placed in a position to give more accurate par- 

 ticulars regarding the specimen in question — particulars which, I trust, 

 will place it beyond doubt that there is here an actual and imimfeachable 

 case of the appearance of the Garefovd, — perhaps of the last appearance of all. 

 I have obtained these particulars directly from the two gentlemen con- 

 cerned in the case — namely, Herr Brodtkorb, who killed the bird, and 

 Herr Nordvi, to whom we owe it that the fact was at once made known in 

 wider circles. I have recently got to know these two gentlemen person- 

 ally, and they have, with the greatest readiness, placed at my disposal the 

 following information, which they themselves put, at my desire, in the 

 form of letters. These letters I subjoin, accompanying them only with 

 the following observations : — 



Herr Brodtkorb was in 1848 a young man of twenty, who had adopted 

 a business career, and at the same time devoted himself eagerly to sport ; 

 and as the place in which he resided is an important breeding-place of 

 sea-birds (Fuglevar), where masses of auks,i mews, and cormorants breed 

 on the adjacent islets of Homo and Reno, he had the best opportunities for 

 learning all the birds that normally appear near Vardo. When I visited 

 that place last summer (1883), in order to examine these noteworthy bird- 

 cliffs, I came to know Herr Brodtkorb as a man well informed in every 

 respect, and thoroughly trustworthy. I caused myself to be rowed several 

 times over the little strait in which the Alca impennis was shot. This arm of 

 the sea separates the town of Vardo from the adjacent islets of Horno and 



1 Alca tarda and Arctica alle, in all probability. 



