200 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
this bird agreed so well with what might be given of the Gare- 
fowl, Alca impennis, that he considered it worth the while of 
some qualified person to proceed to Suderoe and investigate the 
matter. 
Being desirous of examining the coal-beds (lignite) of Suderoe, 
the additional prospect of obtaining information about a rare bird 
added zest to my wishes, and a journey of a fortnight, during 
which I visited the islands of Sandoe, Skuoe, Great Dimon, as 
well as Suderoe, was the result. 
On arriving at Porkere, in Suderoe, towards the end of May, 
1872, | made enquiries about the rare bird that had been shot 
there; but only elicited that an uncommon bird, a Rook (Corvus 
Jrugilegus), had been procured the previous winter. Being almost 
ignorant of Danish, and knowing nothing of Froese, I was 
certainly not a competent person to institute an enquiry amongst 
people who had no acquaintance with English. 
After my return to Thorshavn, on mentioning the result of my 
researches to Herr Miller, he was not satisfied that I had got 
to the bottom of the matter, and he agreed to make further 
enquiries through the Sysselmand (magistrate) of Suderoe. 
In the following vear (1873) a deposition was made before 
the Sysselmand of Suderoe by the parties who killed the bird, 
supposed possibly to have been a Gare-fowl (Alca impennis); and 
Herr Miiller kindly sent me a copy of the document in question, 
which I received just prior to my embarkation for foreign service, 
in 1873. However, being placed on one side, it escaped my 
memory until a few days ago, when it accidentally turned up. 
Though fully five years have elapsed since the deposition 
was made, | think it is deserving of record, not because it is 
in itself satisfactory evidence of the appearance of the Gare-fowl 
of late years in Feroe, but because it is a statement which, in all 
probability, will be handed down as a tradition in those islands 
of an actual capture of a Gare-fowl, and our successors may lament 
the apparent want of energy on our part in not having thoroughly 
investigated the circumstance at the time. I therefore, without 
further apology, append a translation of the deposition. 
| TRANSLATION. | 
“I, the undersigned Jacob Miiller, of Porkere, hereby declare, according 
to truth, that one day in the month of November, 1870, when in company 
