ME. S. GRIEVE ON REMAINS OF THE GREAT ATTK. 479 



Notice of the Discovery of Eemains of the Grreat Auk or Gare- 

 fowl (Alca impeimis, L.) on the Island of Oronsay, Argyll- 

 shire. By Symington Grieve, Esq. (Communicated by 

 Dr. J. MuEiE, F.L.S.) 



[Eead May 4, 1882.] 

 (Plate IX.) 



Trustworthy evidence goes to prove that the so-called Great 

 Auk or Garefowl (Alca impennis) has been extirpated within the 

 memory of living men — the very last living ones being recorded 

 as taken in Iceland about 40 years ago, while still earlier in the 

 present century stray examples were got within the British area. 

 For the history and distribution of the bird, however, I need only 

 refer to the able writings of Professors Steenstrup * Newton f, 

 and others % ; and for an account of its osteology to Prof. Owen's 

 memoir § on the Newfoundland specimens. Its remains in the 

 kitchen-middens of Denmark, Iceland, and North America are 

 authenticated ; but only in two instances have prehistoric rem- 

 nants been found in Britain, viz. 2 humeri, 2 tibiae and frag- 

 ments, and portion of a premaxilla by Mr. S. Laing, at Caithness, 

 and the front moiety of a sternum afterwards obtained from the 

 same place by Dr. J. Anderson ||. 



(Since the above was written, my attention has been called to 

 the Nat. Hist. Trans, of Northumberland and Durham, vol. vii. 

 part ii. (1880), pp. 361-364, where it is mentioned some Gare- 

 fowl-remains were found in a limestone cave near Cleadon, on 

 the Durham coast, during 1878.) 



The rarity of this interesting avine form, and the fact of its 



* " Et Bidrag til Geirfuglens " &c., in ' Videnskabelige Meddelelser ' for 

 Aaret 1855 (Kjobenhavn, 1856-57), pp. 33-116. 



t Ibis, 1861, pp. 374-379, 1870, p. 256, and EncycL Brit. 9th ed. 1875, 

 article "Birds." 



\ Among these may be mentioned " The Gare-Fowl and its Histories," Nat. 

 Hist. Eev. 1865, p. 467 ; and ' Ueber Tlautus impennis TOn W. Preyer,' 1862, 

 for a separate copy of which I am indebted to the author since the reading of 

 the present paper. 



§ Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. v. p. 317 (1865). 



II Consult ' Prehistoric Eemains of Caithness,' 1866, by Samuel Laing, M.P. ; 

 also " Notice of the Remains of Garefowl in Scotland," by Dr. J. Alex. Smith, 

 in Proc. Soc. Antiquaries Edinb. 1879, pp. 76-105. The portion of sternum 

 in Mus. Coll. Surg. Lond. is numbered 1150 b, and was presented by Mr. G. 

 Bask, through Dr. J. Anderson, and got at Keiss, Caithness. 



LINN. JOURN. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XVI. 36 



