1896-97-] The Great Auk. 259 



Bond at £21 ; and by him it was sold to Baron d'Hamonville, 

 Manonville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, who offered it for sale at 

 Stevens' Booms, London, 22nd February 1894, lot 112. The 

 following account of the sale is from the 'Standard,' 23rd 

 February 1894: — 



It [the egg] is not quite perfect, but is beautifully marked. Mr Stevens 

 started the lot by bidding 100 guineas. The next bid was 110 guineas, 

 and by tens 200 guineas was rapidly reached. There was a pause, but Mr 

 Stevens, with a little coaxing, and saying that he hoped to obtain 300 

 guineas at least, when he should be happy, started the bidding again at 

 210 guineas. Another pause was followed by Mr Stevens informing the 

 company that there was no reserve, and that when the egg had been sold 

 any desiring purchaser would lose all chances of obtaining it. Then came 

 a bid of 220 guineas, followed by others of 240, 250, 260, 270, and 280. 

 Mr Stevens (to a gentleman in the middle of the room), " Surely you will 

 not let it stop at this price ! Are you cpuite sure you have made up your 

 mind % " Another bid of 290 guineas was the result, amidst cheers, and 

 then Mr Stevens pathetically appealed to his audience to go as far as 300 

 guineas. A gentleman who stood near to him raised his pencil, and the 

 figure was secured. Then came the formal announcement of 300 guineas 

 once, twice, and the third and last time, and the hammer fell to the agent 

 of Sir V. H. Crewe. Mr Stevens afterwards informed a reporter that the 

 sum realised was the largest one for any Auk's egg that had as yet been 

 under the hammer. 



This egg is now in the collection of Sir Vauncey H. Crewe 

 at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire. A writer in the ' Daily News,' 

 23rd February 1894, mentions that it is figured in Hewitson's 

 ' British Oology.' A rough figure of it also appeared in ' The 

 Sketch' of 7th March 1894. 



Cambridge : Natural History Museum. — The following cor- 

 respondence explains itself. On 8th October 1888, the late 

 Lord Lilford wrote me : "I have not transferred my collection 

 of eggs to the Cambridge Museum, but some time ago pre- 

 sented four of the five eggs of Garefowl in my possession to 

 Professor Alfred Newton. These were the two Edinburgh 

 eggs, that which you refer to from Lausanne, and the Dorset 

 specimen. I retain the egg purchased from my sister, with 

 the stuffed Garefowl, after the death of her husband, Arthur 

 Crichton. I distinctly wish to repudiate any claim to the 

 gratitude of the Cambridge Museum, which is the sole and just 

 due of Professor Alfred Newton in this matter." 



Writing me on 16th March 1897, Professor Alfred Newton 



