BIRDS. 245 



Holland caught upwards of seventy score in one geo in a day. 

 In this same geo were caught by one boat in two days such a 

 number of auks that their feathers were bought by a Mr. Logic, 

 a merchant in the island of Westray, for 9, 18s. sterling. 



Alca impennis, L. Great Auk. 



So much has been written on the Garefowl by Professor Newton 

 and others, not to mention Symington Grieve's exhaustive 

 monograph of that bird, that at one time we contemplated 

 passing it over with very short notice, thinking the subject had 

 already been sufficiently worked out. However, we have lately 

 collected a good deal of information, some of which is new, and 

 some, again, but little known or quoted, and this we now 

 present to our fellow-naturalists, trusting they will find some- 

 thing of interest therein. 



From all we can gather, it may safely be asserted that the 

 Great Auk was always a rare bird in Orkney, and that it only 

 inhabited one island indeed, as far as is known, only one spot 

 on that island. The place is close to the "Fowl's Craig," on 

 the N.E. side of Papa Westray, and is exactly indicated in the 

 plate by the arrow-head pointing underneath but of this we 

 shall have more to say further on. 



The only mention of this bird by Low is at page 107, where 

 he says, " Have often inquired about the Great Auk especially, 

 but cannot find it is ever seen here." Low died in 1795, and 

 therefore we may safely conclude that the Great Auk was 

 very rare then and some time before, for such a large and 

 remarkable-looking bird could scarcely be common without his 

 hearing and getting some information about it when he inquired 

 especially about it. 



Bullock was the first person who made known the existence 

 of the Great Auk in Orkney to the outside world. He com- 

 municated his information to Colonel Montague, who published 

 it in an appendix to the Supplement of his Ornithological 

 Dictionary; this we need not repeat again, as it is already 

 so well known. We extract the following, however, from 



