iS86.] Recent Literature. 263 



Habitats; IV, The Remains of" the Great Auk — Introduction to the sub- 

 ject- — -Discoveries in North America ; V, The Remains of the Great Auk 

 in Denmark and Iceland; VI, British Remains of the Great Auk — Keiss 

 in Caithnessshire ; VII, British Remains of the Great Auk (co«//««^rf) 

 — Oronsay in Argyllshire ; VIII, How was Caistealnan-Gilleau formed, 

 and to what period does it probably belong? IX, English Remains of the 

 Great Auk; X, The Habits of the Garefowl, and the Region it lived in; 



XI, Information Regarding existing Remains of the Great Auk, with 

 Lists of all recorded Skins, Bones and Eggs — Tables giving the Totals of 

 each Variety of Remains in difterent Countries — Also Information about 

 Skins, Bones, Eggs, Imitation Reinains, and Illustrations of Remains ; 



XII, The uses to which the Great Auk was put by Man; XIII, The 

 Names by which the Great Auk has been known, and their Philology; 

 XIV, The Period during which the Great Auk lived — Conclusion. 



To us the chapters treating of the remains preserved in the museums 

 and of the former habitat of this remarkable bird are of principal interest. 

 The author gives the total number of skins known as 79 or 81, the uncer- 

 tainty being due to doubt whether there be one specimen or none in Ice- 

 land, and whether five or six in the United States. Professor Wilh. 

 Blasius enumerates only 77 "mit einiger Sicherheit."* Later in 1884 the 

 same authorf made known an additiontil specimen, that of Mr. Vian 

 in Paris, thus raising the number to 78. It would, therefore, appear as 

 if Mr. Grieve had made at least one new specimen known, but such is 

 not the case, for by some sort of a mistake the author gives tivo speci- 

 mens as being in the " Smithsonian Institute," Washington, while the 

 fact is, that there is only one specimen in Washington, viz., that in 

 the National Museum under the care of the Smithsonian Institution. 



As to the specimen doubtfully referred to Iceland, we can offer no sug- 

 gestions, but through the kindness of Mr. J. A. Allen we are able to add 

 some valuable information in regard to the example in the New York Mu- 

 seum, and also to the mythical mutilated skin, which "has been said" to 

 be in the same Museum. The origin of the myth that there are two speci- 

 mens in the New York Museum is evident from the following footnote in 

 Mr. Grieve's book (App. p. 19) : "Professor Newton, writing to me on 

 15th April. 184 \ says that D. G. Elliot, according to his own account, 

 bought the specimen without the feet, formerly in Mechlenburg's posses- 

 sion, for the Central Park Museum in New York. Accordingly, there 

 must now be two specimens in that museum, though this point requires 

 still to be cleared up. — \V. Blasius." In order to clear up this point I ad- 

 dressed a letter to Mr. D. G. Elliot, who, under date of December 26, 1885, 

 very kindly wrote me as follows : "Yours of 24th is at hand. Somewhere 

 among my papers I have a full account of the specimen of Alca itnpeH?n's 

 now in the Central Park Museum, but I cannot lay my hands upon it at 

 present, and as I am about to leave for the South for a month's absence, I 

 shall have to answer your questions as best I may without it. 



* Journ. f. Orn. 1884, p. 114 and p. 165. 



fTagebl. Nntiirf. Veisniiiml. M.'igdeburg, 1884 (p. 321). 



