110 NEWTON ON BIRDS IN GREENLAND. 



{50.) Alca impennis, Gare-fowl or Great Auk. '* Isaro- 

 kitsok." 

 The earliest discovery of this remarkable and interesting 

 species in Greenland was in or about the year 1574, when an 

 Icelander, by name Clemens, visited certain islands on the 

 east coast, then called Gunnbjarnareyjar, and since iden- 

 tified with Danell's or Graah's Islands, lying in lat. 65° 20' N., 

 whereon he found it so plentiful that he loaded his 

 boat with the bii-ds. It has not since been known to 

 occur on that coast. Bruennich, in 1764, did not mention 

 Greenland as a locality for it. Fabricius, in 1780, while 

 giving its Esquimaux name, says that it was rarely seen on 

 the outer islands, and that in winter ; he had, however, exa- 

 mined a young bird, only a few days old, taken in August. 

 Old birds, he adds, were very rare. The Museum of Copen- 

 hagen possesses a specimen, said to have been killed on Disco 

 in 1821, but this is very possibly that which is known to have 

 been procured by Heilmann at the Fiskenses in 1815. The 

 last examples with certainty known to have existed were 

 killed on Eldey, off" the south-west point of Iceland in 1844. 



{51.) Podiceps auriius. Horned Grebe. 



A few immature specimens have been obtained in the 

 southern part of Greenland. 



{52.) Podiceps holbcelli. American Red-necked Grebe. 



This New-World representative of the Old-World P. 

 griseigena^ was first described as a distinct species from 

 specimens obtained in Greenland, but its specific validity is 

 questioned by many ornithologists. It seems to have occurred 

 three times in that country. 



49. Colymbus septentrionalis. Red-throated Diver. " Kark- 



sauk." 

 Found on the East Coast and breeds in both Inspectorates, as 

 also on the western coast of Davis Strait. 



50. Colymbus glacialis. Great Northern Diver. " Tudlik." 

 Observed by Graah on the East Coast, on the West breeds 



generally, but more in the South than the North, where indeed it 

 seems to be rare. Examples of this bird from the Fur Countries 

 and west of North America, with a pale-coloured bill have been 

 described as forming a distinct species, under the name of C. 

 adamsi, but the like are to be met with in Europe.* 



{53.) Sulabassana. Gannet. "Kuksuk."f 

 Accidental and rare. 



51. Phalacrocorax carbo. Cormorant. " Okaitsok." 



Said by Holboll to breed from the Godthaab Fjord northward so 

 far as he had been. Observed also on the East Coast. 



* Colymbus arcticus, the Black-throated Diver, was found in considerable 

 numbers in Parry's Second Voyage. 



t This name seems to be also applied to the Swan, 



