16 



turn," etc. Quotes Anscr magellanicus, Clus. Worm. Rail, Will. Orn. 242, 

 and Alcse species, Linn. ed. vi, gen. 52. 

 Alca {C'fienalopex) impennis, Cassin, Baird's B. N. A. 1858, p. 900. 

 Alergus americanus, " Cbarleton, Onom. Zoic. p. 96, No. 10." "iNieremb. Exot. 



lib. 10, c. 27," fide Donndorff. Not Mergus americanus Cassin, 1853. 

 Alca major, Brisson, Ornilliologia, vi, 1760, p. 85, pi. 7. 



Alca impennis, Linnteus, S. N. ed. x, 1758, p. 130, No. 2. Id. ibid. ed. xii, 1766, 

 p. 210, No. 2. Quotes Alca major Briss. and Mergus americanus Clus. Exot. 

 103. Brunnich, Orn. Bor. 1764, p. 26, No. 105. Gmelin, S. N. 1788, i, pt. 

 ii, p. 550, No. 3. Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, 1790, p. 791, No. 1. Donndorff, Bey- 

 triige Zoologische, ii, pt. i, 1794, p. 817. Sander, Grosse u. Schonh. Natur. 

 i, p, 243. Hermann, Tab. Aff. Anim. p. 150. Temminck, Man. Orn. ii, 1820, 

 p. 939. Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii, 1825, p. 51. Bonaparte, Synop- 

 sis, 1828, p. 432. Audubon, Orn. Biogr. 1838, iv, p. 316. Brandt, Bull. 

 Acad. St. Petersb. ii, 1837, p. 345. Fleming, Hist. Brit. Anim. 1842, p. 129. 

 Gray, Genera Birds, iii, 1849, p. 637. Thompson, Nat. Hist. Ireland, 1851, iii, 

 p. 238. Macgillivray, Hist. Brit. Birds, 1852, ii, p. 359. Steenstrup, " Vi- 

 densk. Middell. for Aaret, 1855; Kjobenhavn, 1856 — 57, pp. 33 — 116." 



Newton, Ibis, 1862, p. , (Historical.) Schlegel, Urinatores Mus. Pays- 



Bas, livr. ix, 1867, p. 13. 

 Pinguinus impenni.i, Bonnaterre, Ency. Method. Orn. 1790, p. 29. Bonaparte, 

 Consp. Giiv. Comptes Rendus, 1856, p. 774. 



Description (from the specimen in the Philada. Acad.) — The white spot be- 

 tween the eye and bill is ovate in shape, its upper border a little straightened, 

 its small end towards, but not quite reaching, the bill, its large end extending 

 to, but not around, the eye ; the width of the black space between it and its 

 fellow is rather more than half an inch. The back is dusky-black ; other dark- 

 colored parts with a good deal of clear brown, especially on the head. The 

 under parts, including the tail coverts, are white, this color running far up on 

 the front of the neck in a narrowly acute angle. The under wing coverts are 

 ashy-gray. The secondaries are narrowly but distinctly tipped with white. 

 The bill is deep black, its sulci dull white. The feet are dark, their precise 

 color at present undefinable. 



Dimensions. — " Length about 30 inches ;" wing 5-75 ; tail about 3-00 ; bill 

 along gape 4-25; chord of culmen 3-15; greatest width of bill -66 ; greatest 

 depth of upper mandible 1-00, of lower -66 ; tarsus 1-66 ; middle toe and claw 

 3-25; outer 300; inner 2-25. 



The occurrence of this species on the coast of North America has not been 

 authenticated of late years. Perhaps the last instance on record is that given 

 by Audubon on page 316 of the fourth volume of " Ornithological Biography." 

 "The only authentic account of the occurrence of this bird on our coast that I 

 possess, was obtained from Mr. Henry Havell, brother of my engraver, who, 

 when on his passage from New York to England, hooked a Great Auk on the 

 banks of Newfoundland, in extremely boisterous weather." This specimen was 

 not preserved. " When I was in Labrador," continues Audubon, " many of 

 the fishermen assured me that the ' Penguin,' as they name this bird, breeds on 

 a low rocky island to the south-east of Newfoundland." The present writer 

 received similar assurances when in Labrador in 1860 — the place designated 

 being the " Funks." Audubon also states that " an old gunner residing on 

 Chelsea Beach, near Boston, told me that he well remembered the time when 

 the penguins were plentiful about Nahant and some other islands in the Bay." 

 Two si»ecimens only are known to exist in any American museum. One is 

 in the Philadelphia Academy; its history is uncertain. The other, in the 

 Vassar College, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., is the original of Audubon's plate and 

 description, as stated in the following note from Prof. Sanborn Tenny, favored 

 in reply to questions regarding it: "The Great Auk, presented to Vassar Col- 

 le"-e by J. P. Giraud, Jr., Esq., is in a perfect state of preservation. This spe- 

 cimen'is the one from which Audubon made his drawing, and it was presented 



