SALE OF EGGS OF THE GREAT AUK. 
T HE SALE of four empty eggs-sholls for the sum of one hundred 
and twenty-two pounds ten shillings sterling, is an occurrence 
of sufficient rarity to merit a notice in the columns of The Field. 
I therefore desire to place on record that on July the 11th, Mr. 
Stevens, the natural history auctioneer, disposed of four eggs of the 
great auk, in four separate'lots for the sums of ,£ 29 , .£ 33 , £ 31 . 10 s., 
and £ 29 , respectively. Such of the readers of this account as are 
not professed naturalists may perhaps enquire-wliat were the pecu- ; 
liar circumstances that could give to these egg-shells such an; 
enormous value. I may therefore, perhaps, be excused if I claim 
space to say a few words respecting the great auk and its eggs. 
The Alcci impennis of Linnaeus and all subsequent naturalists, ‘the ; 
great auk of the books of our boyhood, is a species that no longer 1 
exists. Even as late as thirty years since, ornithologists delighted 
to describe the habits of this" wonderful diver, whose speed when in 
the water was .so great that the celebrated naturalist Bullock chased 
the specimen now set up in the British Museum, for many hours in a 
■six-oared boat, without ever coming sufficiently near to it to gain 
even the chance of a shot. 
Several other specimens were also known in the Orkneys during 
the present century. Mr Fleming possessed one captured at 
St. Kilda in 1822 ; this subsequently escaped, as did another taken 
in 1829 and intended for the Edinburgh Museum. The last specimen 
known, was that secured in 1834 , for Dr Burkett’s collection. This 
was captured off the coastof Waterford. Ten specimens, altogether, 
are known as British. Recently the remains of a specimen, contain¬ 
ing an almost perfect skeleton, were brought to England from North 
America. The bones have been carefully macerated and prepared, 
and the skeleton has been set up, so that the structure of this 
extinct bird is now-very well known. 
The great auk, which was also termed the gare fowl, was a diving- 
bird, closely related to the razor-bills and guillemots, although in 
size it considerably surpassed these species, its length being upwards 
of two feet. Like all divers, its feet were placed very far back, so 
that the body was nearly erect when the animal was on land. The 
tarsus or scale-covered part of the hind limb was very short ; the 
hind toe absent. The plumage was dense, to resist the entrance of 
the water and very short, the tail being only three inches in length. 
The wings were small, and used as fins when the bird was diving. 
In colour, the head, neck, throat, and upper parts generally, were 
black ; the wings greyish-brown, the under parts white. A somewhat 
similar arrangement of colour may be noticed in the penguin and 
many other fish-feeding diving-birds. It appears not improbable 
that it may have -direct reference to their mode of life, as they would 
be less visible to their destined prey than if the position of the 
colours was reversed, the dark colour of the back being less con¬ 
spicuous from above, and the white from below. 
It is probable that the plumage in the winter, and perhaps in the 
young, might have undergone a modification, as Dr. Fleming’s spe¬ 
cimen had the throat and neck white. 
There seems but little doubt of the entire extinction of the great 
auk. It certainly no longer exists in the Orkneys, nor is it found 
in tiie small islands near Newfoundland, which were the last known 
breeding places of tho birds. Consequently, specimens both of the 
skins and eggs are much valued. Not long since I heard of one egg 
which was purchased by a celebrated ornithologist for £ 15 , and which 
was said to have been shortly resold for £ 50 . The sudden influx of 
as great a number as four upon the market at once necessarily depre¬ 
ciated somewhat the price. 
There was no doubt of the genuineness of the specimens recently 
sold. They were discovered with some others in one of the museums 
in London, when it was decided that the supernumerary ones should 
be parted with. I may state that £100 was offered, and refused, 
for the four before the sale, and that they were all purchased by 
different individuals. , ,,, , 
The eggs are fully five inches m length, by three m breadth, and 
of that°peculiar pyriform or tapering shape characteristic of the 
eggs of so many sea-fowl. In colour they are very pale yellowish- 
white, blotched with irregular patches of dark an i light brown. 
In conclusion, I may state that those who desire to become 
further acquainted with the structure of this singular diver will find 
an elaborate description of its anatomy, illustrated with admirable 
plates, in a recent number of the Transactions of the Zoological 
Society. And while I am writing of diving birds, I would mention 
that those who may be desirous of possessing an admirably coloured 
life-like drawing of the King Penguin, lately deceased, should obtain 
the last number of the Intellectual Observer. Of the merits of the 
accompanying description I cannot offer an opinion, as the signature 
to the articled that of W. B. Te&eth^ter. 
