104 Recent Notes on the Great Arik. [Sess. 



tions to the Fauna of Northern Russia and Norway "), says: "An^Zca 

 itniicnnii is said to have been shot a considerable time ago in the district 

 of Tromso." Since this specimen, too, has not been preserved, this report 

 must be regarded as quite as uncertain as the preceding one.^ 



The next branch of our subject for consideration is 



INFORMATION EEGARDING THE HABITS OF THE GREAT AUK, AND 

 SOME OF THE LOCALITIES IN WHICH IT HAS BEEN SUPPOSED 

 TO HAVE LIVED. 



There are several references by voyagers to ]S"orth America 

 about two hundred years ago, under different names, to what, 

 from their descriptions, must, I think, be considered to be no 

 other than the Great Auk. They make some interesting 

 remarks regarding its habits. The Baron Lahontan, in ' New 

 Voyages to North America, from 1683 to 1694,' translated 

 from the French — London, 1735, vol. i. p. 241, says: "The 

 moyacks are a sort of fowl as big as a goose, having a short 

 neck and a broad foot ; and, which is very strange, their eggs 

 are half as big again as a swan's, and yet they are all yelk, 

 and tliat so thick that they must be diluted with water before 

 they can be used as pancakes." It would be interesting if 

 any one has an opportunity of obtaining eggs of some allied 

 bird, such as Aim torda, to experiment so as if possible to 

 ascertain if there appears to be good reason for accepting as 

 correct the observations of Baron Lahontan. It is unfortunate 

 we cannot obtain any new-laid Great Auk eggs to definitely 

 settle the question ! It may be as well to remark that although 

 Baron Lahontan appears to have visited the coast of Labrador, 

 it was not during the particular voyage in which he met with 

 the moyacks, as he then does not seem to have been farther 

 north than the Gulf of St Lawrence. It must not, therefore, 

 be supposed that he recorded the moyack in a region from 

 which we have no authentic record of the Great Auk. It is 

 evident from what we know that he either met with the moyack 

 in the Gulf of St Lawrence or perhaps farther south, at some 

 of the other then stations for the Great Auk, or, as it was then 

 called, Penguin. 



A bird named the "wobble" is referred to in a work on ' New 

 England Earities,' by John Josselyn, Gent.: London, 1672. 



1 For doubtful occurrence of Great Auk at Mevenklint, see post, p. 119, Note. 



