THE GREAT-AUK 31 



history, and the careful sifting of the documentary evidence by such 

 men as the late Professor Newton, Professor Wilhelm Blasius, and 

 Symington Grieve, have resulted in a tolerably definite knowledge 

 of its former range, and no hope can now be entertained of its 

 existence in any part of the high north. 



Meantime the literature of the subject has attained surprising 

 dimensions. Wilhelm Blasius, in the new edition of Naumann's 

 Naturgeschichte der Vogel Mitteleuropas, vol. xii. pp. 169-174, gives over 

 five folio pages of closely printed titles of works bearing on the 

 subject. The high prices reached in London auction-rooms by the 

 sale of the eggs have no doubt helped to stimulate public curiosity 

 on the subject, and perhaps the neglect and indifference through 

 which this interesting bird was allowed to perish unnoticed, have 

 been somewhat atoned for by the exceptionally careful way in which 

 its history has been studied since its disappearance. 



The most important papers in English on the subject are those 

 by Professor Newton and Mr. Symington Grieve on its history, 

 and Professor Owen on its osteology ; while Mr. F. A. Lucas and others 

 have contributed to our knowledge of its American home. Among 

 Professor Newton's contributions we may mention the articles in the 

 Ibis, 1861, pp. 374-399 ; 1870, pp. 256-261 ; and 1898, pp. 587-592 ; his 

 papers in the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica on " Birds," 

 vol. iii. pp. 734-735, and " Garefowl," vol. x. pp. 78-80, which may also 

 be found in the well-known Dictionary of Birds. The wonderful 

 series of eggs and casts now in the Cambridge Museum are described 

 in the Ootheca Wolleyana, vol. ii. pp. 364-383, and plates xiv.-xxi. 

 Symington Grieve's most important work is his monograph on The 

 Great Auk or Garefowl, published in 1885, to which supplementary 

 notes have been subsequently issued by the same writer. Professor 

 Owen's account of the skeleton of the great-auk will be found in the 

 Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, vol. v. pt. iv. (1865) pp. 

 317-335, pis. li., Hi., and map. Mr. F. A. Lucas has contributed papers 

 to the Auk for 1888, the Annual Report of the U. S. Nat. Mus., 1888-89, 



