PLAUTUS ALCA. 



165 



Hand-l i. p. 130 (1899) ; Bidwell, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, x. p. xxxiii 

 (1899). 



The British Museum possesses two eggs of the Great Auk. These 

 two examples were glued down to boards and exposed to view in 

 the general gallery for many years ; they are consequently bleached 

 and valueless. 



Their history is doubtful, and I quote Mr. Symington Grieve's 

 account (torn, cit., App. p. 29) of these two specimens : " British 

 Museum. These two eggs probably come from Bullock's collection. 

 At the sale of Bullock's collection in 1819, two eggs were 

 included in the catalogue (one at p. 31 and the other at p. 131). 

 Both were bought by Leach, then keeper of the Zoological portion 

 of the British Museum, and these are presumably the two eggs now 

 in the Museum. One of them was actually packed in the same box 

 in which Bullock's bird from Papa Westra was ; but that does not 

 necessarily lead to the conclusion that the egg came from Papa 

 Westra. To judge from its age, Newfoundland is probably the 

 place of its origin. According to other accounts, these two eggs 

 originally belonged to Sir Hans Sloane, all of whose collections 

 became part of the British Museum." 



One of these, in fairly good order, measures 4*6 by 2*9. The 

 second one. a good deal broken but admitting of accurate mea- 

 surement, measures 4-72 by 2-83. Both are broad ovals, inclining to 

 the pyriform. 



The ground-colour is a dull creamy white, the shell rough and 

 without gloss. In one specimen the markings, which consist of 

 large, more or less confluent, dark brown blotches, are collected 

 chiefly at the larger end, forming a cap; in the second the 

 markings are spread over the whole shell, the larger ones, however, 

 being confined to the broad end, where they do not form a distinct 

 cap as in the first egg, but rather an irregular zone. 



There are also casts of four eggs as noted below *. 

 2. Of uncertain origin. Old Collection. 



Genus ALCA, Linn. 

 Alca torda, Linn. 



Alca torda, Thien. Fortpflanz. ges. Vog. tab. iiic. fig. 3, a-g (1845-54) ; 

 Baedeker, Eier Eur. Vog. tab. 15. fig. 2 (1855-63) ; Heicitson, Ec/ys 

 of Brit. Birds, ii. p. 468, pi. cxxviii. (1856) ; Dresser, Birds Eur. viii. 

 p. 557 (1877) ; Baird, Brewer $ Ridyw. Water Birds N. Am. ii. 

 p. 472 (1884) ; Seebohm, Brit. Birds, iii. p. 375, pi. 42 (1885) ; id. 

 Eggs of Brit. Birds, p. 92, pi. 24. figs. 1-4 (1896) ; Dixon, Ibis, 1885, 

 p. 90 ; Grant, Cat. Birds B. M. xxvi. p. 565 (1898) ; Sharne. Hand-l. 

 i. p. 130 (1899). 



* 1. Cast of egg in the collection of Prof. A. Newton. 



1. Cast of egg formerly in the collection of Mr. A. Troughton, 



of Coventry. 

 1. Cast of egg in the collection of Mr. A. J. Wolley, and 



formerly in the possession of Mr. Gould. 

 1. Cast of egg from the collection of Mr. Yarrell. 



