210 BULLETIN 107, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
stated, bones of the great auk have occurred in shell heaps as far 
south as Florida. At Ormond, on the Halifax River in Florida, two 
left humeri of this species were found. In the shell heaps of the 
Massachusetts coast the bones of the great auk have several times 
been found, at Marblehead, Ipswich, and Plum Island. I have my- 
self found them at Mount Desert Island, Maine. 
On the eastern side of the Atlantic one comes first to Iceland, 
which was probably the last stronghold of this bird. Here are to be 
found numerous rocky islands or skerries where the great auk un- 
doubtedly bred. Several of these bear the name of the extinct bird, 
and are called Geirfuglasker. Eldey, or Fire Island, where the last 
birds were taken, is one of a chain of volcanic Bird Islands (Fug- 
lasker) lying off Cape Reykjanes, the southwestern point of Iceland. 
At a few places in the British Isles remains of this bird have been 
found and there are historic references to their occurrence at St. 
Kilda, the Hebrides,-Orkney, Shetland, and Faroe Islands and at 
Waterford and Belfast, Ireland. At the Scottish Islands they 
probably bred. In the shell heaps or kitchen middens of Denmark 
remains of this bird have been found, and there are traditions of 
its existence in this region. There is some evidence of its occur- 
rence on the coast of Norway and it probably migrated all along the 
European ceast as far as the Bay of Biscay. The last of these 
birds, two individuals, were taken alive on June 3, 1844, at Eldey, 
a skerry or rocky islet off the southwest point of Iceland. Their 
viscera are now preserved in the Royal University Museum, Copen- 
hagen, but it is not known what became of the skins and bones. The 
narrative by Grieve (1885) of this capture is of such a tragically 
historic character, it is quoted here: 
As the men clambered up they saw twu garefowls sitting among numberless 
other rock-birds (Uria troile and Alca torda), and at once gave chase. The 
garefowls showed not the slightest disposition to repel the invaders, but imme- 
diately ran along under the high cliff, their heads erect, their little wings some- 
what extended. They uttered no cry of alarm, and moved, with their short 
steps, about as quickly as a man could walk. Jon (Brandsson) with out- 
stretched arms, drove one into a corner, where he soon had it fast. Siguror 
(Islefsson) and Ketil pursued the second, and the former seized it close to 
the edge of the rock here risen to a precipice some fathoms high, the water 
being directly below it. MKetil (Ketilsm) then returned to the sloping shelf 
whence the birds had started, and saw an egg lying on the lava slab, which 
he knew to be a garefowl’s. Whether there was not another egg is uncertain. 
All this took place in much less time than it takes to tell it. 
. This date, June 3, 1844, is probably the last authentic date. A live 
bird was said to have been seen on the Newfoundland Banks in 
December, 1852, and a dead one to have been picked up in Trinity 
Bay, Newfoundland, in 1853, but these records are considered of 
doubtful authenticity by Grieve (1885). 
