154 



and is even now used for it by the French, while in most other languages it 

 has been transferred, from an early date, to the Antarctic flightless birds, 

 the Spheniscidae. 



All the first reports are from Newfoundland and thereabout, and even 

 Clusius (Exoticorum libri decern, Lib. V, p. 103 — 1605), who gives a rather 

 poor but perfectly recognizable figure, describes it first (p. 103) as a native 

 of America, under the name of " Mergus Americanus." Later on, however, 

 in the " Auctarium," on p. 367, he mentions it, on the authority of Henricus 

 Hojerus, as found in the Faroe Islands, under the name " Goirfugel." 

 Hojerus was also the authority for the account given in Nieremberg, Hist. 

 Nat., etc., p. 215 (1635). The first comparatively good figure was published 

 in 1655, in the "Museum Wormianum," on p. 301, from a specimen brought 

 alive from the Faroe Islands. Curiously enough the figure shows a white 

 ring round the neck, which no Great Auk, of course, possesses. 



Linnaeus, when first bestowing a scientific name on the Great Auk, 

 in 1758, I.e., gave the following short diagnosis and references: — 



" AIca rostro compresso — ancipiti sulcato, macula ovata utrinque ante oculos. Fn. 

 Svec. 119. 



Anser magellanicus. Worm. mus. 300 t. 301. 

 Penguin. Will, ornith. 244 t. 65 Edw. av. 147 t. 147. 

 Habitat in Europa arctica." 



From referring to the literature he quotes, there can, of course, be 

 no doubt as to what species he refers. 



The most detailed descriptions are probably those given in the New 

 Edition of Naumann (see above), where also a list of literature and figures 

 is given, fully seven folio pages long! As regards the difference in the 

 sexes little is known, because very few specimens exist of which the sex has been 

 ascertained. We find, however, some with the grooves and ridges on the bill 

 more marked, and the grooves purer white, while others have the grooves of 

 a dirtier white and less strongly developed ; as these latter are apparently 

 mostly smaller, I think they must be females, the former males In this 

 case my two specimens would be females, and the one now in Professor 

 Koenig's possession an adult male. Probably somewhat similar seasonal 

 changes took place as in Alca torda, and Professor Blasius (I.e.) has described 

 them. It must, however, be remembered, that the date of capture is known 

 of but a few examples, and that by far the majority of all those that exist 

 in collections have been killed in spring, on their breeding-places. 



Nobody can doubt that the Great Auk is extinct. The last specimens 

 were obtained on Eldey, near Iceland, in 1844, and the seas and islands 



