THE GREAT AUK. 
cc Length (total) ; tail not perfect ...... 
239 
Inches. 
29 
of folded wing [from carpus to point of longest quill] 
H 
„ 
„ bill from forehead 
H 
55 
„ „ gape or rictus 
n 
55 
„ tarsus ......... 
H 
55 
„ middle toe ....... 
2f 
55 
„ ,, and nail 
3f 
„ inner toe ....... 
2A 
,, „ and nail ...... 
2-S- 
55 
„ outer toe ....... 
55 
„ „ and nail ...... 
H 
55 
„ tail, which is broken, may have been about 
2 
Depth (greatest) of bill, exceeding ...... 
H” 
This specimen is now in the University Museum, Dublin, having 
been liberally presented by Dr. Burkitt. 
As afterwards ascertained by Mr. Davis, a second great auk 
was procured on the coast of Waterford, about the same time 
as the one already noticed ; but, falling into ignorant hands, 
it was not preserved. The Rev. Joseph Stopford, in February 
1844, communicated a note to Dr. Harvey of Cork, stating, but 
without any mention of date, that one of these birds had been 
“ obtained on the long strand of Castle Freke (in the west of the 
county of Cork) ; having been water-soaked in a storm.” 
I have little doubt that two great auks were seen in Belfast 
Bay on the 23rd of September, 1845, by H. Bell, a wild-fowl 
shooter, whose good observation has already, more than once, 
been alluded to. He saw two large birds the size of great northern 
divers (which are well known to him), but with much smaller 
wings. He imagined they might be young birds of that species 
until he remarked that their heads and bills were “ much more 
clumsy” than those of the Colymbus . They kept almost con- 
stantly diving, and went to an extraordinary distance each time 
with great rapidity. 
The “ Alca impennis, Penguin,” stated in Sampson's f Survey 
of Londonderry ' to frequent the rocks of that county and of 
Donegal, we may fairly take for granted is the Alca tor da , or 
razorbill, as this species has not a place in that author's catalogue 
of birds. 
