496 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



wanton slaughter of the bird,* wrote of the Great Auk in 1864 that 

 " Haifa century ago the penguin was ver;^ plenty. * * * The pen- 

 guin is now but seldom seen ; such destruction of the bird was made for 

 the sake of its feathers that it is now all but extinct.t 



The exact derivation of the word penguin and the date at which it 

 cauie into use is uncertain, although it occurs in the "Voyage of M. 

 Hore and divers other gentlemen to Newfoundland and Cape Breton in 

 the yeere 1536." Professor Newton (than whom there can be no better 

 authority) considers it probable that penguin is derived from piriwing, 

 a name still somewhat used in Newfoundland, and that this term was 

 bestowed on the Great Auk by the English fishermen from the fact 

 that the bird was as flightless as if pinwinged, in more modern parlance 

 pinioned. This operation consists in bending down the outer joint of 

 the wing, as in plucked chickens, or in locking the wings together 

 across the back. 



Professor Steenstrup, on the other hand, believes the word to be of 

 Welch origin, from ^ew, white, and </u'^/i, head ; and although the head 

 of Great Auk is not white, yet there is a large white spot just in front 

 of the eye of sufficient size to warrant the appellation. 



The French pingouln is of later date than penguin and was probably 

 derived from the English word, and thousrh the supposition that both 

 came from the Spanish pingue, fat, meets with no favor from either 

 Professor Newton or Professor Steenstrup, it is after all not without 

 some slight show of reason. 



The fishermen of Normandy, Brittany, and the Basque provinces 

 were the earliest to resort to Newfoundland, and these were on the 

 ground as early as 1504, only seven years after the discovery of the isl- 

 and by Cabot. In 1517 there were forty Portuguese, French, and Span- 

 ish vessels engaged in the cod fishery; and in 1578, according to Hak- 

 luyt, three hundred and fifty Spanish and French vessels and only fifty 

 English. 



Thus it would appear that there was some chance of the Great Auk 

 having received its original name from the Spanish or French fishermen 

 although the English speaking race has ever possessed the happy fac- 

 ulty of forcing its language upon all with whom it comes in contact. 



That the Great Auk was well known at an early date is shown by 

 Anthonie Parkhurst's statement, written in 1578, that " the Frenchmen 

 who fish neere the grand baie,| doe bring small store of flesh with them, 

 but victuall themselves with these birds" (penguins). 



The extermination ot the Great Auk took place so suddenly that a 

 comparatively small number of skins, skeletons, and eggs were pre- 

 served in museums, and in America, where the garefowl had been most 

 abundant, scarce a specimen existed. 



*Given on the autliority of Mr. George A. Boardman. 



tNewfoundlaud aud its missionaries, by Rev. William Wilson. Cambridge, 1866. 

 t Probably the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as our own fishermen still speak of this as 

 " The Bay." 



