Miscellaneous. 393 



fresh, which the following extract from my MS. Journal, written 

 when the animal was caught, will, I hope, afford : — 



" * Ground cinereous, six pairs of white spots between the back of 

 the head and root of the tail, symmetrically placed ; six to eight 

 lines of red spots on each side, broken and terminating in small 

 points towards the belly ; buff-coloured irregular spots on the sides 

 among the red lines ; belly bright yellow, passing into cinereous to- 

 wards the roots of the posterior and anterior extremities ; legs and 

 tail spotted with red towards their proximal ends, with white spots 

 towards their extremities ; head irregularly marked with red and 

 white spots having a transverse direction. Iris light cinereous, 

 t)'mpanum sunken and covered with loose skin.* 



" This is a homely description, but I give it to you verbatim as it 

 is in my Journal, and am sorry that I had not the latter to refer to 

 in London when I left you the specimen. 



" Lastly, I notice, p. 250, in the fifth paragraph from the top, 

 /. c, that an error has crept into my statement, in the word * An- 

 thropophagi,' which ought to have been ' Chelonophagi ' (Turtle- 

 caters). It will not do to make mistakes of this kind ; and these 

 poor people, degraded as they are, I trust will never come to this." 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The G are-Fowl, or Great Auk (Alca impennis). 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural Ilistonj. 



Gentlemen, — The September Number of your valuable Journal 

 contains a list, conmumicated by Mr. Robert Champley, of the 

 specimens of Alca impennis preserved in the various museums. To 

 render this list more complete, I beg to inform you that a specimen 

 of this rare bird is also contained in the Imperial Museum of Vienna. 

 Requesting the insertion of this note in your pages, 

 I remain, respectfully yours, 



A. VON Pelzeln, 

 Vienna, Oct. 3, 1864. Assistant Keeper in the Imperial 



Zoological Museum. 



[We omitted to remark, on publishing Mr. Champley's list of 

 specimens of this species in our September Number (p. 235), that it 

 seems to be very defective. Mr. Alfred Newton, in his communica- 

 tion to the Zoological Society, reprinted in our August Number 

 (p. 140), states that "sixty-three or sixty-four stuffed skins" {more 

 than double the estimate of Mr. Champley) are known by him to 

 exist. Again, in the Appendix to Mr. S. Baring-Gould's ' Iceland ' 

 (p. 406), which was noticed in our pages (Annals, vol. xii. p. 396), 

 Mr. Newton says he can enumerate fifty-nine eggs of this bird, 

 adding, "there must be several besides, of which I have as yet no 

 knowledge.*' — Eds.] 



