20 
8 Spring Gardens, Doncaster. 
26 July, 1860. 
“Dear Sir, —I never had but one egg of Alca impennis in 
my possession. I had the above from Mr. Friedrich Schultz, of 
of Dresden, in Saxony. I sold it to Mr. Tnke, of York, now banker, 
London (now Hitchin). I received it in 1841. May 23rd. I sold it for 
£2 6s. to that gentleman ; it is now worth ££8 or £30. . . . 
Hugh Reid.” 
EGG XVII. (Sale number fifteen.) 
Sale catalogue No. 9609. An egg of the Great Auk, on April 13th, 1897. 
Described in the catalogue as a “Fine egg of the Great Auk.” 
Egg XVII. - “ Lot A. Egg of the Great Auk. A very 
fine and perfect one. The above egg was 
bought with a specimen of the Great Auk 
from Mr. Field. The bird having been 
sold separately, the egg is now offered.” 
Bought by Mr. T. G. Middlebrook, of the “ Edinburgh 
Castle,” Camden Town, London, for £294 O O 
This egg was one of the three formerly in the possession of 
Mr. T. H. Potts, and was the one taken by him to Mew Zealand, 
(cf. p. 6). The following interesting history of this egg is given 
by Mr. Grieve in his ‘ Supplementary note on the Great Auk or 
Garefowl,’ (Trans. Edin. Field Nat. and Micro. Soc., Vol. III., 
1896-7, pp. 261-2). “The egg which was in the collection of 
the late Mr. T. H. Potts, who died very suddenly in 1888, was 
seen by me at the house of his widow, at Christchurch, New 
Zealand, who told me she was anxious to dispose of it. It 
was some years afterwards, about the beginning of 1891. 
purchased by Mr. Henry O. Forbes, then curator of the Canterbury 
Museum, Christchurch, N.Z., it was said for a friend in England. This 
is perhaps the only egg of Alca impennis that has ever been in the 
Southern Hemisphere, and it has now found its way back to England. 
It was in the collection of Mr. Leopold Field, 25 Brodrick Road, 
London, S.W. He sold it to Mr Rowland Ward, F.Z.S., 166 Piccadilly, 
London.” 
Mr. Rowland Ward kindly informs me, he purchased the bird 
and egg from Mr, Field for 600 guineas, and that he subsequently 
repurchased the egg from Mr. Middlebrook, and disposed of it to 
Col. John E. Thayer. 
Mr. Bidwell writes me, that these three eggs (Nos. 1., II., and XVII. 
in this pamphlet), after being in the collection of the Vicomte de 
Barde for some thirty years, in 1825 passed with his collection to the 
Boulogne Museum. The curator exchanged them for an ostrich skin 
with Mr. James Gardner, Jun., who sold them on his arrival in London 
to Mr. T. H. Potts, 
