Oil a hitherto Unrecorded Specimen of lice Great Aul:. 335 



latter were found near each other, probably from the same 

 nest, in May 1881. The strongest marked egg, and the 

 faintest coloured one, wore taken in May 1882, and were also 

 stated to be near each other. We almost infer, therefore, 

 that these four eggs were produced in these two years by tlie 

 same bird, as they were found each year at the same side of 

 the small island. 



I shall not attempt to enter here into the causes of this 

 more or less variety of the coloration of the eggs of birds, but 

 shall merely say that it is, in all probability, due to changes 

 in the secretion of the colour glands in the oviduct of the 

 bird, due, it is believed, to changes in the health, and the 

 rapidity of oviproduction, as well as in the age of the bird. 



XXXIV. On a hitherto Unrecorded Specimen of the Great Auk 

 (Alca impennis, Z.) in the Collection of His Grace the 

 Duke of Boxbiirghe. By John Gibson, Esq. [Specimen 

 exhibited.] 



(Read IStli April 1883.) 



The writer, after giving a sketch of the history of the Great 

 Auk, continued as follows : — There is, at least, one man still 

 alive — a St Kildian — who has seen a living specimen of this 

 bird in Scottish waters. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, 

 that with the bird so lately alive at our doors its remains, 

 whether in public or private collections, should be so rare in 

 Scotland. In the most recently published list of the known 

 remains of the Great Auk — that of Professor Newton in the 

 Ibis — the number of recorded skins is placed at 71 or 72 ; of 

 skeletons, 9 ; of detached bones of different birds, 38 or 41 ; 

 and of eggs, 65. To the list of eggs must be added the two 

 recently found in an Edinburgh collection, and now in the 

 possession of Lord Lilford; also the large quantity of detached 

 bones brought from Funk Island in 1874 by Mr John ]\Iilne. 

 Of all the specimens recorded in the His list only two are in 

 Scotland — namely, a pair of eggs in the Edinburoh Museum 

 of Science and Art. Since the appearance of Professor 

 Newton's list, the Museum of the Society of Scottish Anti- 



