xxviii Proceedings. [March 12th, 1907* 



right Tibise. From the foregoing it is evident we have the remains 

 of more than one bird. Unfortunately I am not in a position 

 to give any further particulars of these bones as Sir Francis 

 Evans sent them to me only a few days before he died in 

 January last, and they were unaccompanied by a letter, though 

 he had actually started to write one, as it was on his desk 

 after his death. 



I do not propose to give an extended description or detailed 

 account of the life-history of the Great Auk, on this occasion, as 

 it is hardly necessary, seeing that it has been very ably and 

 fully done elsewhere by numerous writers. A few remarks^ 

 however, about this most interesting bird may be welcome to 

 those amongst us who have not made a study of Ornithology. 



In size the Gare-fowl was hardly less than a tame goose, and 

 in appearance it much resembled its smaller and surviving 

 relative the Razor-bill, Alca torda, but the glossy black of its head 

 was varied by a large patch of white occupying nearly all the 

 space between the eye and the bill, in place of the Razor-bill's 

 thin white line. The most striking characteristic of the Gare- 

 fowl, however, was the comparatively abortive condition of its 

 wings, the distal portions of which, though the bird was just about 

 twice the linear dimensions of the Razor-bill, were almost exactly 

 of the same size as in that species — proving, if more direct 

 evidence were wanting, its inability to fly. The most prevalent 

 misconception concerning the Great Auk is the notion it was a 

 bird possessing a very high northern range, and consequently was 

 to be looked for by Arctic explorers. How this error arose 

 would take long to tell, but the fact remains that there is little 

 or no evidence that it has occurred within the Arctic Circle. Its- 

 principal haunts were certain islands in the neighbourhood of 

 Newfoundland, others near the east coast of Greenland, and 

 some skerries off the south-west of Iceland, whence the 

 last recorded specimens " in the flesh " were obtained in the year 

 1844. 



These bones I have had the pleasure of presenting to the 

 Manchester Museum at the Victoria University. 



