1442 The Zoologist — November, 1868. 



the lower jaw — it is more like a thickened membrane from the gullet 

 to about half-way along the length of the jaw." — p. 239. 



I close the bulky volume with regret: it is full of animation, 

 although full of the records of death : I suppose it is in vain to hope 

 that the hunter will stay his hand when he has once enjoyed the 

 excitement of the chase : I cannot but think it were a worthier object 

 to learn the habits of the living than to leave the bones of the dead 

 to bleach on the desert sands : but in fairness it must be admitted the 

 hunter makes a kind of capital out of the spoils ; he feeds the Arabs 

 with the flesh, preserves some of the specimens, and partially pays the 

 wages of his followers with ivory and hides. 



Edward Newman. 



The Great Auk. By J. H. Gurney, jun., F.Z.S. 



About the year 1812 Bullock prosecuted his ornithological re- 

 searches in the Orkneys, and one of the great auks in the British 

 Museum was a part of the fruits of that expedition. According to 

 Montagu, who published in the year following, the natives informed 

 Mr. Bullock that " One male* only had made its appearance for a 

 long time, which had regularly visited Papa Westra for several years 

 [and doubtless had bred there]. The female (which the natives call 

 the queen of the auks) was killed just before Mr. Bullock arrived [or 

 subsequently according to some accounts]. The king or male Mr. 

 Bullock had the pleasure of chasing for several hours, in a six-oared 

 boat, but without being able to kill him, for though he frequently got 

 near him, so expert was the bird in its natural element, that it 

 appeared impossible to shoot him. The rapidity with which he 

 pursued his course uuder water was almost incredible." (Orn. Diet. 

 Appendix, and p. 5 of Newman's Edition.) 



But Montagu does not mention the ultimate fate of the auk, and its 

 coming to London ; for that we turn to Latham, who says (Gen. Hist. 

 Birds, vol. x. pp. 56, 57) that after Mr. Bullock was gone, the great 

 auk suffered the Papa Westra boatmen " by themselves to approach 

 so near, as to knock it down with an oar." 



It was deposited in the "London Museum" in Piccadilly, and 

 when that splendid collection was broken up, in 1819, Dr. Leach 



* They had no means of telling it was a male; the sexes are alike in plumage. 



