Plautus 
A 
iniuennis . 
In the early part of this century, when the species had 
become so scarce that they were not pursued for food, a new 
danger arose. The collectors killed them for specimens, 
and the naturalists completed the destruction that the sailors 
and fishermen had commenced. It may be thought that on 
some of the rocky islets off the coasts of‘either continent the 
great auk may still exist; but the opinion of naturalists best 
acquainted with the subject, such as the late John Wolley, 
who journeyed to Iceland specially to make inquiries re¬ 
specting this species and its relics, is most strongly against 
the probability of any remaining. 
Such being the case, every relic of the bird is valuable, 
whether in the form of bones, skins, or eggs. Bones have 
been found in considerable abundance, especially in places 
where the birds were used for food. Professor Milne de¬ 
scribed the collection of a large number on Punk Island in 
The Field of 1875 (March 27 and April 3 and 10). His articles 
were illustrated by a drawing of the bird. No less than ten 
complete skeletons have been made, five of which are in 
England—one at Cambridge, two in the Natural History 
Museum, 8. Kensington, one at the College of Surgeons, 
and the fifth in the possession of Lord Lilford. Of skins 
nearly eighty are known to exist in public and private col¬ 
lections. Of the twenty-two in the British Isles, examples 
may be seen at the Natural History Museum, and the 
museums at Newcastle, York, Dublin, Durham, and Leeds. 
Of the eggs of the great auk, or garefowl, about seventy 
are known. It doubtless made no nest, and laid but one 
egg, which was large even in proportion to the size of the 
j bird, being about 5 inches in length by 3 inches in breadth, 
and having that peculiar pyriform shape common to those 
of sea birds, whose eggs are deposited in exposed situations, 
a form which prevents them rolling, except in narrow 
circles, and thus prevents them being readily blown off the 
ledges on which they are deposited. 
Like those of its nearest ally, the eggs of the great auk 
for £140. But all these prices are far distanced by that ob¬ 
tained on Monday last at Stevens’ Auction Room, when an 
egg from the collection of Mrs. Wise was offered for sale, 
and realized the unprecedented sum of £225. This egg had 
been inherited by Mrs. Wise in a collection belonging to 
her father, Mr. Holland, and had been purchased by him in 
1851 for £18 from Williams of Yere street, the predecessor 
of H. Ward; Williamshaving previously obtained it from 
Lefevre of Paris. 
Those who desire additional information respecting this 
interesting species will find it in Professor Newton’s ab¬ 
stract of “Wolley’s Researches in Iceland” in the Ibis, 1861, 
and in “The Garefowl and its Historians,” Nat. His. Rev., 
1865. Sir R. Owen’s description of the skeleton is in the 
Transactions of the Zoological Society for 1866. Professor 
Milne’s account of the remains in Funk Island has been al¬ 
ready cited. There are sundry papers in the Zoologist for 
1860, 1861, 1868 and 1869, and the results of previous in¬ 
quiries have been accumulated in Mr. Symington Grieve’s 
very handsome quarto, which is illustrated with colored 
drawings of the Edinburgh eggs and of the bones of the bird; 
but for a drawing of the entire skeleton reference must be 
made to Sir R. Owen’s account in the Zoological Transac¬ 
tions. 
We reproduce the engraving of the bird which illustrated 
one of Professor Milne’s articles in The Field of April 3, 
1875. The egg sold during the present week is represented 
of the natural size; but the figure of the bird is much re¬ 
duced, its actual weight when living being about 11 pounds. 
—W. B. Tbgetmeieb, in Field (London). 
vary much in color and marking. Two are figured by See- 
bohm in his ‘(British Birds”—one from the Oxford Museum, 
of which the ground is creamy white, with black and brown 
blotches, chiefly at the larger end; the second, from the 
Liverpool Museum, being beautifully streaked with dark 
brown on a light brown ground. 
In the valuable monograph of Mr. Symington Grieve on 
the great auk, two eggs are figured from the Edinburgh 
Museum. These vary again, being creamy white with dark 
blackish-brown markings, which in one are very sparsely 
distributed. 
The value of the eggs has risen rapidly of late years. In 
the year 1830, one was bought in Paris for 4s. Id.; in 1833, 
another was secured for 8fr. One of the eggs at Cambridge 
was purchased for £2 in 1832; in 1847, the late Sir W. 
Milner paid 200fr. for one in Paris; in 1853, the late Lord 
Garvagh bought two at a public sale for £59. 
In 1865, ten eggs were discovered in a box at the Museum 
of the College of Surgeons; of these, five were sold at 
Stevens’, averaging £30 each. In 1869, Lord Garvagh 
bought at Stevens’ a third egg for £64; and in 1883 one is 
reported to have been bought by a well-known ornithologist 
8“t 
