1896-97-] The Great Auk. 251 



February 1897 he wrote me in French, of which the following 

 is a translation : " You ask me for information regarding the 

 Alca impcnnis which I own. It is still in my almost complete 

 collection of European birds. It is an adult in breeding 

 plumage. I even regard it as a specimen of a bird well 

 advanced in age, the upper mandible being marked with nine, 

 the lower with twelve furrows. It is mounted, and has no 

 borrowed feathers. I do not know its sex. The following 

 information was given me fifty years ago by the stuffer of the 

 bird. He said that it was one of a colony which laid their 

 eggs on an inaccessible islet in the vicinity of Iceland ; 1 that 

 in 1830 a volcanic eruption covered this islet with its debris; 

 that several specimens, dead or dying, were driven by the 

 waves on the shores of Iceland, and were eaten ; that he (my 

 friend the stuffer) himself secured the subject of this letter 

 while it was still alive. He kept it for several days on the 

 ship which was returning to France ; that it died on the way, 

 and that he stuffed it during the voyage. In fact, its feathers, 

 and the exact retention of its outlines and undulations, indicate 

 a bird mounted while the skin was newly removed from the 

 flesh " (see Plate IV.) 



In answer to my inquiry for further information, M. Jules 

 Vian, who is Honorary President of the Zoological Society 

 of France, kindly replied on the 7th March 1897: "It was 

 in 1847 that I saw for the first time the Alca impennis of 

 which I am at present the owner. It formed part of the 

 collection . of Monsieur Oursel (father) of Havre. That col- 

 lection was not very numerous, but it was composed of birds 

 perfectly mounted, and indicated study of the forms, and 

 especially of the heads. Accordingly, my Alca seems to me 

 to have its head perfectly modelled after a bird that still 

 retains its flesh. Monsieur Oursel, who had picked it up 

 in Iceland and mounted it on the return voyage, furnished 

 me at that time with circumstantial details, but I did not 

 take any notes, as I did not then imagine that the bird would 

 become part of my collection. I have nothing but recollec- 

 tions of fifty years ago, and my memory, which has been at 



1 This evidently refers to the Geirfuglasker, off Reykjanes, South-West Iceland, 

 which became submerged during a volcanic eruption in 1830. — See 'Great Auk 

 or Garefowl,' p. 20. 



