239 The long flight back 



time they were disappearing forever from American shores, the 

 natural-history museums realized that the species was approaching 

 extinction. There were almost none of their eggs or skins in the 

 collections and now they would have to be obtained in a hurry, 

 and at any cost, or it would be too late. One last breeding place 

 was known, an island known as Eldey off the coast of Iceland. In 

 the year 1830, the museums were offering 100 kronen (about 

 thirty dollars) for one garefowl, a goodly sum to the poor fisher 

 folk of Iceland. So Eldey was raided, and it is on record that 20 

 skins were delivered in that year, 24 in 1831, 13 and one egg in 

 1833, and 9 skins and 8 eggs in 1834. For a time the demand was 

 satisfied, and the price dropped. Then it again reached 100 kronen, 

 and, in 1840, another raid netted 4 garefowls and 5 eggs. More 

 specimens were demanded, but the fishermen reported that they 

 had taken the last one; there were none left. 



Four years went by and there was a clamor for more. Carl 

 Siemsen, who was in touch with the dealers of Europe, went to a 

 fisherman named Vilhjalmur Hakonarsson and urged him to visit 

 Eldey and have one more try, which he agreed to do. 



There were some fourteen or fifteen men in the boat as it ap- 

 proached Eldey on the morning of June 3, 1844, but the seas were 

 rougher than usual, and only three of them managed to get 

 ashore. The stage was now set. Within minutes the great auk 

 would be extinct. The three men were Jon Brandsson, Sigurdr 

 Islefsson, and Ketil Kentilsson. Writing some forty years after 

 the event, the ornithologist Siemington Grieve has given us this 

 description of what happened: 



As the men clambered up they saw two garefowls sitting 

 among numberless other rock-birds (Uria troile and Alca torda), 

 and at once gave chase. The garefowls showed not the slightest 

 disposition to repel the invaders, but immediately ran along 

 under the high cliff, their heads erect, their little wings some- 

 what extended. They uttered no cry of alarm, and moved, with 

 their short steps, about as quickly as a man could walk. Jon 

 Brandsson, with outstretched arms, drove one into a corner, 

 where he soon had it fast. Sigurdr Islefsson and Ketil pursued 



