153 



ALCA IMPENNIS l. 



THE GREAT AUK. 



(Plate 38.) 



"Penguin" Hore, in Hakluyt's Coll. Voyages III p. 129 (Ed. 1600 — ex Hore). 



Anser Magelanicus s. Pinguinus Worm, Museum Wormianum, Lib. Ill, Cap. 19, p. 300, 



301 (1655 — Figured from a specimen from the Faroe Islands). 

 "Penguin" Willoughby, Orn. Lib. Ill p. 242 pi. 65 (1676). 



" Northern Penguin " Edwards, Nat. Hist. Uncommon B. etc., Ill p. 147 pi. 147 (1750 



— First good coloured plate, from a specimen from Newfoundland). 

 " Geyervogel" Linnaeus, Fauna Suecica p. 43 no. 119 (1746). 



Alca impennis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. X p. 130 (1758 — Ex fauna Sueciva no. 119, Mus. 

 Worm. I.e., Willoughby I.e., and Edwards I.e.) ; Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. XII, I, p. 210 

 (1766); Naumann, Nat. Voy. Deutschl. XII p. 630 pi. 337 (1844); Dresser, B. Europe 

 VIII p. 563, pi. 620 (1880) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. Ill p. 371 (1885). 



Alca borealis Forster, Syn. Cat. Brit. B. p. 29 (1817 — nomen nudum). 



Plautus impennis Briinnich, Zool. Fundamenta p. 78 (1772); Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 

 Water Birds N. Amer., II p. 467 (1884) ; Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXVI p. 563 

 (1898). 



FOR FULL DESCRIPTIONS, LITERATURE, HISTORY, LIST OF REMAINS, SEE :— 

 Japetus Steenstrup : Bidrag til Geirfuglens Naturhistorie etc., Kjobenhavn (Copenhagen) 



1857 (In Naturh-Forening. Vidensk. Meddel. 1855, nos. 3-7). 

 Alfred Newton : Abstract of Mr. Wolley's Researches in Iceland respecting the Gare- 



fowl. (In Ibis, 1 861, pp. 374-399). 

 William Preyer : Ueber Plautus impennis. (In Journal f. Orn. 1862 pp. 1 10-124, 337"35^« 

 Alfred Newton : The Gare-fowl and its Historians. (In Natural History Review XII, 



1865 pp. 467-488); id. in Encycl. Britannica Ed. IX vol. Ill; id. Diet. B. p. 220-221. 

 Wilhelm Blasius : Zur Geschichte von Alca impennis. Journ. f. Orn. 1884 pp. 58-176. 

 Symington Grieve : The Great Auk, or Garefowl. Its History, Archaeology, and Remains. 



London 1885 ; Supplem. note on the Great Auk ; in Trans. Edinburgh Field Nat. 



Soc. (1897) p. 238-273. 

 Wilhelm Blasius : Der Riesenalk, Alca impennis L. In the New Edition of Naumann 



"Naumann, Naturg. d. Vogel Mitteleuropas ") Vol. XII p. 169-208, plates 17, I7a-i7d 



(1903). 



ROBABLY the first mention of Great Auks is that in Andre Thevet's 



Jt book " Les singularitez de la France antarctique . . . ," Anvers 

 1558, where a large bird was mentioned under the name of "Aponars," 

 "Apponatz" or "Aponath." But evidently this name covered several other 

 sea-birds, and it is at least doubtful if it was solely applied to the Great 

 Auk. The same applies to the remarks by Jacques Cartier, as translated in 

 R. Hakluyt's collection of voyages. On the other hand there is no doubt 

 that the "Penguin" mentioned by Robert Hore in 1536 (Hakluyt, Collection 

 of Voyages III, p. 129 — 1600, and other Editions) was actually the Great 

 Auk. In fact "Penguin" has been the name usually applied to the Great Auk 



