i8 
Lost British Birds. 
incredible. If a stop be not soon put to this practice the 
whole breed will be diminished to almost nothing, particu¬ 
larly the penguins, for this is now the only island they 
have left to breed upon.” 
It was quite time in 1785 to predict the speedy end of 
that stupendous yearly massacre. As long back as 1540 one 
of the early voyagers mentions the loading of his two 
vessels with dead penguins in less than half-an-hour, and 
states that besides what were eaten fresh there were four 
or five tons of them to put in salt. At a later period, 
when they were slaughtered for their feathers, the fat 
carcases of the birds were used as fuel. These, and other 
horrible and loathsome details about the manner in which 
the poor birds were tortured to death by thousands to 
make sport for the crews when no profit was to be made 
by killing them, may be found in Mr. Symington G-rieve’s 
elaborate quarto monograph, The Great Auk (1885). 
Here we are mainly concerned with the bird as a British 
species. Its principal stations in recent times were St. 
Ivilda, Iceland, the Faroe and Orkney Islands. “ From 
similar causes to those which operated elsewhere,” writes 
the historian of this vanished species, “ it gradually was 
killed off, until in 1844, or possibly 1845, the last was heard 
of the living Garefowl.” 
With the opening words of Mr. Grieve’s work this brief 
note may fitly end :—“ The whole history of the Great Auk 
is a sad one—the continued slaughter of the helpless 
victims, culminating in the final destruction of the race in 
the skerry, named Eldey, off the coast of Iceland, excites 
to pity. The last of the Great Auks has lived and died. 
The race was blotted out, before naturalists, when too late, 
discovered it was gone. Kegrets are now useless—the living 
Garefowl is extinct.” 
VIII. Red Night-Reeler — Locustella luscinoides. The 
English book name of this small bird—Savi’s Warbler—was 
borrowed from the Italian ornithologist who first described 
