The Zoologist— Apiul, 1869. 1643 



regions. The Esquimaux are said to have used the skin for garments, 

 and Mr. Harrison Penney, of Darlington, has articles of apparel 

 made from the skin and feathers of the rock-breeding sea-fowl, given 

 him by the Moravian Missionaries, who, by the bye, on the authority 

 of Dr. Charlton, were once guilty of eating a great auk by mistake 

 for a wild goose. 



The great auk has given rise to many tales and stories. One day 

 Mr. Hancock received a visit from the Edinburgh birdstufFer, Mr, 

 Small, who, on being shown a tray of auks' eggs and plaster casts, 

 stated that he had recently seen a sailor offering one for £3 ; the 

 sailor had been told it was valuable, when at Liverpool : he was 

 carrying it in his jacket pocket upon a string, like an ostrich's egg. 

 On hearing this, the late Mr. Wolley, who chanced to be in New- 

 castle, without loss of time started in chase, and dogged the sailor 

 with indefatigable perseverance, coming up with him just too late, 

 for the man was drunk, and the egg lost or broken. 



Mr. Hancock's is, I believe, the only egg blown with a single hole, 

 from which we may infer it was one of the very last taken. The Rev. 

 H. B. Tristram has one of the last, taken at Gier-fugle shier, south of 

 Iceland, in 1834. Most of the eggs existing in collections have been 

 imitated in plaster at one time or another. The best casts are those 

 by Mr. Hancock, who can produce a drawer full to all appearance of 

 veritable great auk's eggs, — in reality they are all shams but one, — 

 but the resemblance is so perfect that, without touching, it is almost 

 impossible to say which is the real egg. It took Mr. H, sixteen days 

 to colour his plaster imitation of the late Earl Derby's egg, which was 

 so foul when he received it that it had to be washed. 



The great auk is such a valuable bird that a history is attached to 

 almost every specimen, real or sham. Mr. Masters, of Norwich, 

 possesses an imitation great auk, which I am told is very good : it was 

 made by his servant, Samuel Bligh, and the bill is of wood. Mr. 

 Proctor, of the Durham University Museum, has also manufactured 

 a great auk quite recently. The black parts are Brunnich's guillemot, 

 and the breast is a northern diver's; and this fictitious bird, now in 

 my possession, contains a few feathers of the real great aak in the 

 region of the neck. 



J, H. GuKNEY, Jan. 

 Bank, Darlingtou, 



