1450 The Zoologist — November, 1868. 



asserted in the text), agrees with the ancient accounts of its stupid 

 character. 



If the great auk, like the razorbill, be more than two years in 

 attaining maturity, this individual could hardly have been bred the 

 preceding season ; on the other hand, although said to have been 

 supplied with a mate, we cannot suppose it was itself old enough to 

 breed. 



The fisherman " kept it for some days, feeding it chiefly with 

 potatoes mashed in milk, which were partaken of greedily. After 

 having the bird for ten days he sold it to Mr. Davis, by whom it was 

 sent to Mr. Gough, of Horetown, county Wexford, where it lived for 

 about four months." 



One would have thought that, of all the birds in his book, the 

 accurate Thompson would have devoted most pains to the great auk; 

 instead of this he confuses names, and here, as before, is guilty of 

 attributing to one person what in reality was effected by another. 

 " Mr. Gough, of Horetown, Co. Wexford," was no other than the late 

 Mr. Jacob Goff, at whose house Captain Spence (then a lieutenant) 

 saw the auk. Strange to say, this person, to whom credit is chiefly 

 due, is entirely ignored in Mr. Thompson's book. Dr. Burkitt firmly 

 believes that but for the late Captain Spence no notice whatever 

 would have been taken of the great auk when at Horetown, more than 

 as an odd-looking bird " of the penguin tribe ;" and it would in all 

 probability have been thrown away when dead. " For a considerable 

 time, perhaps three weeks," continues Thompson, "it was not known 

 to eat of anything at its new destination, but potatoes and milk were 

 then forced down its throat, from which time it ate voraciously until 

 a day or two before its death. (Query, did not the mash-potatoes 

 cause its death ?) This auk stood very erect, and frequently stroked 

 its head with its foot, especially when any favourite food was pre- 

 sented." The late lamented Mr. Thompson made an inexcusable 

 mistake in stating the great auk to have " frequently stroked its head 

 with its foot." It appears from Dr. Burkitt's memoranda that it 

 should have been written thus : — This auk stood very erect, was a 

 very stately-looking bird, aud had a habit of frequently shaking its 

 head in a peculiar manner, more especially when any particularly 

 favourite food was presented to it (that is, if a small trout, for 

 instance, was shown it, or was held up at some little distance before 

 it, the bird would at once commence shaking its head in the manner 

 described) ; and this is precisely what Dr. Fleming's great auk did 



