390 Mr. A. Newton on Mr. J. Wolley’s Researches 
bird was given to the Crown Prince (the present King of Den¬ 
mark), who then happened to be in Iceland, and subsequently 
passed into the possession of the late Herr Mechlenburg. The 
remaining eight were purchased by Herr Thomsen, just men¬ 
tioned, whose son most obligingly showed Mr. Wolley an 
account of the transaction in his father’s books. They were 
skinned by Madame Thomsen and her sister, Jomfrue A. C. 
Lewer, who informed us that they were opened under the wing, 
and the skins stuffed with hay, the bones being wrapped round 
with hemp. The eggs were quite fresh, and were blown by the 
two ladies. All these specimens w r ere disposed of to Herr De 
Liagre, a dealer at Hamburg, and, I may add, I think that one 
of the eggs now in my possession belonged to this lot. In 
August 1840 or 1841, three skins, as many eggs, and the body 
of a bird in spirit were bought of Factor Chr. Thase, now living 
at Copenhagen, by Herr S. Jacobsen, who told us that he 
parted with them either to Herr Seining, a naturalist at Ham¬ 
burg, or to Mr. Jamrach, the well-known dealer. Two of 
these birds, or else two more some other year, were obtained 
by one Stephan Sveinsson of Kalmanstjorn, whom the good 
people of Kyrkjuvogr seem to look upon as a kind of poacher 
on w T hat they consider their rightful domain. Certain it is 
that on one occasion Herr Thase bought two birds of this 
Stephan, as the latter informed us, but the exact date is not so 
clear. 
The last Gare-fowls known to have occurred in Iceland were 
two in number, caught and killed in 1844 by a party, of which 
our excellent host at Kyrkjuvogr, Yilhjalmur Hakonarsson, was 
the leader. They were bought, singularly enough, by Herr 
Christian Hansen, son of that Hansen I have before alluded to 
as having been (though, in the first instance, against his will) so 
dread a scourge to the race. From him they passed to Herr 
Muller, then the apothecary at Reykjavik, who, previously to 
having them skinned, prevailed upon M. Vivien (a French artist) 
to paint a picture of one of the dead birds, which picture now 
hangs in the house of his successor, Herr Randrup, the present 
apothecary in the capital of Iceland. As many persons may 
regard these birds as the latest survivors of their species, I may 
