GAEE-FOWL BOOK 49 



time he was busy in inquiring of Arctic navigators and 

 others who had been in the far north after Alca im'penniSy 

 although the absurdity of such inquiry had been demon- 

 strated for several years. 



I wish there were the slightest chance of my being 

 able to finish a Great Auk book before I die — ^but it is 

 impossible. Nevertheless, I go on collecting all the 

 materials I can, and somebody who comes after me may 

 make use of them. I think that two-thirds of such a 

 book would be taken up by refuting errors ! 



Yours very truly, 



Alfred Newton. 



It was his purpose to write a book, to be called " The 

 Story of the Gare-fowl," and after the publication of the 

 " Ootheca WoUeyana " he hoped that he might have 

 time to put it into order, but his Hfe was not long enough 

 for that. He had collected during the course of fifty 

 years notes on every known specimen of the bird and of 

 its eggs, and it may be hoped that some day this labour 

 will be completed. 



Every question connected with the bird was of 

 absorbing interest to him, not the least being that of the 

 origin of its Sightlessness. He was never fully satisfied 

 that the wings of the Great Auk were the degenerate 

 remains of wings, which in remote ancestors had been 

 useful for flight. 



I can't satisfy myself as to the way in which the Gare- 

 fowl's flightlessness was produced, and I suppose I never 

 shall. I can only conjecture that he found wings fit for 

 flight articles too expensive for him to indulge in. If he 

 descended from a Razor-bill it is not difficult to imagine 

 that he found big wings were not worth the trouble of 

 growing and it was better to expend energy in simply 

 accumulating bulk. But one has no more right to 

 assume that he descended from a Razor-bill than that 

 the Razor-bill descended from him. The most reasonable 



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