ALCAD^E. 257 



informed by Mr. Trail, whom he had the pleasure of seeing 

 two or three times, that a pair of these birds were constantly 

 seen there for several years, and were named by the people 

 the King and Queen of the Auks. " Mr. Bullock/' he con- 

 tinues, " on his tour through these islands, made several 

 attempts to obtain one, but was unsuccessful ; about a fort- 

 night after his departure one was shot and sent to him, and 

 the other then forsook the place." Mr. Bullock's tour was 

 undertaken, we believe, in 1813, and the specimen referred 

 to was deposited in the British Museum. In 1822, it is 

 recorded that another of these birds was taken alive at St. 

 Kilda, and in 1834 one was taken off the coast of Water- 

 ford, in Ireland. There have been a few other instances of 

 its capture, with the circumstances of which we are not 

 familiar. The egg of this bird (for it is believed to lay but 

 one) is of a yellowish-white, and exceedingly resembles that 

 of tlje Guillemot in its form, though as large as a swan's 

 egg ; it is blotched or streaked with different tints of brown, 

 and also with black, and is laid upon the bare rock. There 

 are a few specimens of the eggs in the cabinets of this coun- 

 try, but from, their extreme rarity they sell for about twenty 

 or thirty pounds each. In this species the wings are so 

 reduced as to be incapable of serving the purpose of flight, 



