^33 

 NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



FOREIGN BIRDS IN BRITAIN. 



Mr. Hugh Boyd Watt, in Knowledge for April, summarises 

 the records which exist of the casual appearance of foreign 

 birds in this country. Many supposed visitors have escaped 

 from private grounds : a Penguin, which was found walking 

 along in Baker Street, came from the Zoo ; other birds have been 

 let out accidentally or turned loose from ship-wrecked vessels, 

 while others again are the result of attempts at acclimatisation, 

 which have been made from time to time by bird-lovers in 

 this country. We quite agree with Mr. Watt that, of the two 

 hundred and seven species of casuals, or occasional visitors, 

 now on the ' British ' list, a large number have the most slender 

 claims to be called British. 



THE GREAT AUK. 



With the above title Mr. Thomas Parkin, M.A., F.Z.S., has 

 issued a very useful and well-illustrated account of the numerous 

 sales of Great Auk skins and eggs during the past century. 

 Naturalists will be grateful to the aathor for the care he has 

 exercised in placing upon record the facts connected with the 

 history of the various specimens, some of which are quite 

 romantic. For instance, some years ago ten eggs of the Great 

 Auk were found by Prof. Newton in the museum of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons. There was no history attached to them, 

 and no one knew how they had got there. Three were retained 

 bj' the museum, three passed in to the possession of Mr. 

 Robert Champney, of Scarborough, where they have been seen 

 by many of our members, and the other four were sold. It 

 is interesting to notice, too, that in the ' fifties,' Great Auk's 

 eggs were bought from prices varying from £20 to £30. In 

 recent years a number has been sold for over £300 each. We 

 are kindly permitted to reproduce one of the illustrations 

 (Plate XII.). The booklet can be obtained from the author 

 at Fairseat, High Wickham, Hastings, for two shillings. 



THE IPSWICH SKELETON. 



Considerable discussion has taken place in the press and 

 elsewhere in reference to a so-called pre-boulder-clay human 

 skeleton, found a little while ago near Ipswich, and, oddl}/ 

 enough, the name of a prominent naturalist appeared in the 

 daily papers at the foot of an article supporting its age and 

 authenticity. As a rule, however, we find it safer to await 

 a carefully prepared description, written in cooler moments, 

 in the pages of some journal of scientific standing. And we 

 must say in these matters we are inclined to accept the opinion 

 of a geologist rather than that of an antiquary, as the authen- 

 ticity of a pre-boulder-clay man must necessarily be supported 

 by geological evidence. 



1912 May I. '^ 



