240 The Great A uk. [Sess. 



oological collections when they have no room for stuffed 

 birds ; and to some who look upon Great Auk eggs more as 

 curios than rare natural history specimens, the bones and 

 skeletons, even if the latter were obtainable, savour too much 

 of the graveyard for the tastes of the ladies of the household. 

 These remarks, of course, only apply to private collections, but it 

 is to such collections that almost all the Great Auk eggs offered 

 at public sales during recent years have gone. The fact is, that 

 even our great public museums have to stand aside when they 

 have to buy against the offers of rich private individuals. 



The eggs vary considerably in their markings, those with 

 blotches being much more common than those with streaks or 

 pencil lines. Some eggs have the markings only faintly seen 

 outside the shell, and many eggs are more or less damaged. 

 For instance, the Hill egg that came from Poole in Dorset- 

 shire, and was purchased by Lord Lilford, and is now in the 

 Cambridge Museum, has one end broken off, but is nevertheless 

 a fine egg from its markings. The egg now in the possession 

 of Mr Middlebrook, London (see p. 262), purchased at Stevens' 

 Eooms, London, 27th July 1897, is also said to be slightly 

 cracked. It is, however, believed to be a fine specimen. 



I find the following in my diary, 20th May 1889, when 

 I visited the National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, 

 Washington, U.S.A., and was shown the splendid collections 

 by my friend Mr F. A. Lucas : " I was taken by Mr Lucas to 

 the egg - room. A young lady in charge most courteously 

 showed me the egg of Alca impennis Linn. The egg has been 

 much damaged, and is patched up with putty or stucco, tinted 

 outside to make it approximate to the colour of the ground 

 pigment of the shell. There has been no attempt to put 

 on blotches or pencil lines on the artificially restored parts. 

 Much of the shell has been broken away, at one end especially. 

 The shell, to my eye, seemed very dirty, and I have no doubt 

 a careful washing would quite alter the appearance of this egg, 

 which may be described as a blotched variety not pencilled " 

 (see p. 263). 



In the fine collections in the New York Natural History 

 Museum near the Central Park there is no egg of the Great 

 Auk, but they have endeavoured to make up for this want 

 with a model. 



