Recently published Ornithological Works. 281 



is a subject of much interest^ but in. some respects its 

 scientific value has, perhaps, been rather overestimated. 

 Albinism, so far as we understand it, may occur in any 

 living creature, and we are not sure that it is necessary to 

 record its occurrence iu every case. On the other hand, 

 the hybridism which is so prevalent among the Anseres is 

 of great interest, and Herr Leverkiihn^s long list of 

 recorded instances of this phenomenon makes a useful con- 

 clusion to his paper. 



43. Lucas on an Expedition to Funk Island. 



[The Expedition to the Funk Island, with Observations upon the 

 History and Anatomy of the Great Auk. By Fred. A. Lucas, Rep. 

 U.S. Nat. Mus. 1887-88, p. 493.] 



Mr. Lucas visited Funk Island, on the eastern coast of 

 Newfoundland, celebrated as one of the former breeding- 

 places of Alcaimpennis, in the U.S. Fish-Commission steamer 

 ' Grampus,'' in July 1887, and gives us a most interesting 

 narrative of his expedition, of which, however, a popular 

 account, it seems, has been previously published"^. On the 

 southern half of Funk Island " the Auk bred in peace, undis- 

 turbed by man, until that fateful day iu June 1534, when 

 Cartier's crews inaugurated the slaughter, which only termi- 

 nated with the existence of the Great Auk.^' 



Here " myriads of Garefowl lie buried in the shallow soil 

 formed above their moldered bodies " — it is ^' no exaggera- 

 tion to say that millions of Garefowl gave up their lives on 

 these few acres of barren rock.^^ 



After their two days' stay on Funk Island, Mr. Lucas and 

 bis party " brought away 2 cubiq feet of earth, as nearly as 

 possible undisturbed, in order to show the bones in situ, a 

 barrel of Auk remains gathered along the crest of the island, 

 and nearly another barrel of select material, containing the 

 best-preserved bones that could be found.''' 



'^ The disposition so far made of this material is as follows : 

 a perfect skeleton has been placed in the exnibition series of 



* " The Home of the Great Auk." ' Popular Science Monthly,' August, 

 1888, pp. 456-464. 



