ALCID^., 



68l 



THE GREAT AUK. 



Alca impexnis, Linnoeus. 



This species, also called the Gare-fowl, is now supposed to be ex- 

 tinct — and with good reason, for the latest examples were obtained 

 off Iceland in 1844, since which the bird has been assiduously but 

 vainly sought. It formerly inhabited the shores of Iceland, the Faeroes, 

 and the Scandinavian coast of the North Sea ; while its presence in 

 the Outer Hebrides had been on record since 1684, though the bird 

 had evidently become very rare in Scottish waters by the begin- 

 ning of the present century. An adult male — now in the Eritisli 

 Museum, and from which the above illustration is taken — was 

 obtained by Bullock in 1812 from J'apa W'estra, in the Orkneys; 

 in August 182 1 or 1822, Fleming received a live bird which had 

 been captured on St. Kilda ; and in May 1834 another — now in the 

 Museum of Trinity College, Dublin — was also taken alive at the 

 mouth of Waterford Harbour. No other British specimens are in 

 existence; but Mr. Henry Evans, who has repeatedly visited the St. 



3 <^ 



