242 TJie Great Auk. [Sess. 



shillings by Mr Wallace Hewett of Newington, Kent, who, previous to 

 the sale, in looking at the fossils, had recognised an egg of the Great Auk 

 lying amongst them. 



After the auction, upon obtaining possession of his purchase, he was 

 surprised at finding a second egg of this bird at the bottom of the box. 

 To make assurance doubly sure, Mr Hewett took these two eggs to the 

 Natural History Museum and submitted them to Dr Bowdler Sharpe, who 

 confirmed his identification, and very kindly sent him on to me. From 

 the dirty condition of the eggs, it was quite certain that they had been 

 neglected for many years. The smaller one had a hole on one side, the 

 edges of which were as dirty as the rest of the egg, showing it to have 

 been an old injury. Both had recent fractures, which was hardly to be 

 wondered at, considering the rough treatment. . . . 



I regret to say that I have been unable to trace the history of these 

 eggs previous to the sale of March 14th (1894). 



In my former paper, at p. 113 of vol. ii. of these ' Trans- 

 actions,' I referred to the reported story of the Dorchester 

 or Hill Egg. Since that time I discovered that a relative 

 of my own was acquainted with the Hill family, who now 

 reside at Longfleet, Poole. I asked the gentleman to obtain 

 for me all the information possible, and he sent me a long- 

 report, dated 24th August 1890, of which the following are 

 the portions that seem to me of special interest : — 



" I have twice called upon Mrs Philip Hill and Mrs Eose. 

 Mr Philip Hill being in a dying condition, I did not inter- 

 view him, as I had much of the following information from 

 him while he was able to speak. I may here mention that 

 Mr Philip Hill died to-day, 24th August 1890. 



" I will now give you my rough notes, taken down in 

 pencil while I questioned the two ladies above mentioned. 

 The egg belonged to Mrs Philip Hill's grand-uncle, Mr James 

 Way. How he came to possess it they don't know. He had 

 to do with the Newfoundland fisheries. Beyond that they 

 know nothing. In his will, dated 3rd day of January 1816, 

 he is described as ' gentleman of Middlesex.' He married a 

 Miss Watt, said to be related to Isaac Watt. The egg 

 descended to his son, James Henry Way. The date of his 

 death is not remembered, but a stone is erected to his memory 

 in Kinson churchyard. Then it went to his sister, Miss Betty 

 Stone Way, who died 25th January 1879. In 1872 Miss 

 Betty Stone Way gave the egg to Miss Eliza Hill (eldest 

 daughter of Mr Philip Hill), who is now Mrs Eose. At the 



