248 The Great A 11k. [Sess. 



the Great Auk for sale, and that he would let rne see it. He 

 went into the back-shop, and soon returned with an egg in 

 his hand which I saw at a glance was too small for that of a 

 Great Auk, and was evidently an abnormally large egg of the 

 razorbill (Alca torda Linn.) I told him he must know it was 

 not an egg of the Great Auk, and after some hesitancy he had 

 to admit the fact, and then closed the conversation by saying 

 he thought I must be Mr Champley. 



GREAT AUK REMAINS. 



Skins. 



Austria. 



Prague. — Dr Anton Fritsch informs me, in a letter dated 

 1st March 1897, that the adult Alca impennis in the Bohe- 

 mian National Museum was purchased by him for £5 at an 

 auction in Carlsbad. This is the skin that was presented by 

 the King of Denmark to Baron Feldegg (see p. 77, and App. 

 p. 21, 'The Great Auk or Garefowl,' &c.) 



British Isles. 



Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art. — The splendid skin 

 lately in the Leeds Museum on loan from Sir F. Milner was 

 offered at public sale at the rooms of Mr J. C. Stevens, King 

 Street, Covent Garden, on the 23rd of April 1895. The bid- 

 ding started at 100 guineas, and slowly rose to 350 guineas, 

 at which price it was bought in, as the reserve price was 

 understood to be 360 guineas. It was almost immediately 

 secured for the Edinburgh Museum at the price at which it 

 had been bought in — viz., £367, 10s. It is believed to be 

 one of the finest skins in existence, and is said to be in sum- 

 mer plumage. For further particulars see ' Trans. Edin. Field 

 Nat. and Micro. Soc.,' vol. ii. pp. 107, 108. 



Tring, Herts : The Museum of the Hon. W. Rothschild. — 

 There are two skins belonging to this collection. 



No. 1 (see Plate III.) — This skin, it is said, came from either 

 Brunswick or Mainz, where it was purchased by M. Boucard 



