_Japetus Steenstrup_: Bidrag til Geirfuglens Naturhistorie etc.,
Kjöbenhavn (Copenhagen) 1857 (In Naturh-Forening. Vidensk. Meddel.
1855, nos. 3-7).
_Alfred Newton_: Abstract of Mr. Wolley's Researches in Iceland
respecting the Gare-fowl. (In Ibis, 1861, pp. 374-399).
_William Preyer_: Ueber Plautus impennis. (In Journal f. Orn. 1862
pp. 110-124, 337-356.)
_Alfred Newton_: The Gare-fowl and its Historians. (In Natural
History Review XII, 1865 pp. 467-488); id. in Encycl. Britannica
Ed. IX vol. III; id. Dict. B. p. 220-221.
_Wilhelm Blasius_: Zur Geschichte von _Alca impennis_. Journ. f.
Orn. 1884 pp. 58-176.
_Symington Grieve_: The Great Auk, or Garefowl. Its History,
Archaeology, and Remains. London 1885; Supplem. note on the Great
Auk; in Trans. Edinburgh Field Nat. Soc. (1897) p. 238-273.
_Wilhelm Blasius_: Der Riesenalk, Alca impennis L. (In the New
Edition of Naumann Naumann, Naturg. d. Vögel Mitteleuropas) Vol.
XII p. 169-208, plates 17, 17a-17d (1903).
Probably the first mention of Great Auks is that in André Thevet's book
"Les singularitéz de la France antarctique ...," Anvers 1558, where a large
bird was mentioned under the name of "Aponars," Apponatz or "Aponath." But
evidently this name covered several other sea-birds, and it is at least
doubtful if it was solely applied to the Great Auk. The same applies to the
remarks by Jacques Cartier, as translated in R. Hakluyt's collection of
voyages. On the other hand there is no doubt that the "Penguin" mentioned
by Robert Hore in 1536 (Hakluyt, Collection of Voyages III, p. 129--1600,
and other Editions) was actually the Great Auk. In fact "Penguin" has been
the name usually applied to the Great Auk {154} and is even now used for it
by the French, while in most other languages it has been transferred, from
an early date, to the Antarctic flightless birds, the _Spheniscidae_.
All the first reports are from Newfoundland and thereabout, and even
Clusius (Exoticorum libri decem, Lib. V, p. 103--1605), who gives a rather
poor but perfectly recognizable figure, describes it first (p. 103) as a
native of America, under the name of "Mergus Americanus." Later on,
however, in the "Auctarium," on p. 367, he mentions it, on the authority of
Henricus Hojerus, as found in the Faröe Islands, under the name
"Goirfugel." Hojerus was also the authority for the account given in
Nieremberg, Hist. Nat., etc., p. 215 (1635). The first comparatively good
figure was published in 1655, in the "Museum Wormianum," on p. 301, from a
specimen brought alive from the Faröe Islands. Curiously enough the figure
shows a white ring round the neck, which no Great Auk, of course,
possesses.
Linnaeus, when first bestowing a scientific name on the Great Auk, in 1758,
l.c., gave the following short diagnosis and references:--
"Alca rostro compresso--ancipiti sulcato, macula ovata utrinque ante
oculos. Fn. Svec. 119.
Anser magellanicus. Worm. mus. 300 t. 301.
Penguin. Will. ornith. 244 t. 65 Edw. av. 147 t. 147.
_Habitat in_ Europa _arctica_."
From referring to the literature he quotes, there can, of course, be no
doubt as to what species he refers.
The most detailed descriptions are probably those given in the New Edition
of Naumann (see above), where also a list of literature and figures is
given, fully seven folio pages long! As regards the difference in the sexes
little is known, because very few specimens exist of which the sex has been
ascertained. We find, however, some with the grooves and ridges on the bill
more marked, and the grooves purer white, while others have the grooves of
a dirtier white and less strongly developed; as these latter are apparently
mostly smaller, I think they must be females, the former males. In this
case my two specimens would be females, and the one now in Professor
Koenig's possession an adult male. Probably somewhat similar seasonal
changes took place as in _Alca torda_, and Professor Blasius (l.c.) has
described them. It must, however, be remembered, that the date of capture
is known of but a few examples, and that by far the majority of all those
that exist in collections have been killed in spring, on their
breeding-places.
Nobody can doubt that the Great Auk is extinct. The last specimens were
obtained on Eldey, near Iceland, in 1844, and the seas and islands {155}
where the great bird used to live are frequented by vessels every year. It
is true that a certain Lorenz Brodtkorb told that in April, 1848, he saw
four Great Auks, of which he shot one, near the Varanger Fjord, east of the
North-Cape, but Professor Newton and Wolley have, in 1855, had an interview
with Brodtkorb, and came to the conclusion that he saw and shot the Great
Northern Diver. This is the more likely to be the case, as the occurrence
north of the Arctic Circle is as yet uncertain, the finding of Great Auks
both on the island of Disco (west-coast of Greenland) and on Grimsey and
Mevenklint on the north coast of Iceland being open to doubt.
From sub-fossil and prehistoric finds, we know that the Great Auk formerly
inhabited Norway and Sweden, Denmark, with Seeland, Sejerö and Havnö, the
British Islands (Cleadon Hills in County Durham, Scotland, Ireland), the
east coast of North America from Labrador to Florida.
In historic times we know of the occurrence on the islands near Labrador,
Greenland--where it certainly used to breed on the east coast, but was
probably only of rare and exceptional occurrence on the west
coast--Iceland, the Faröe Islands, Fair Island between the Orkney and
Shetland Islands (doubtful), Orkneys (Papa Westra), St. Kilda, Skye, and
Waterford Harbour in Ireland. But as breeding stations within historic
times the following only are absolutely certain:--
1. Funk Islands near Newfoundland.
2. Iceland (Geirfuglasker, Grimsey, Eldey).
3. Faröe Islands.
4. St. Kilda.
5. Orkney Islands.
While we know of regular occurrence and may assume that the bird has been
breeding on the north and west side of Newfoundland, and in east Greenland
(opposite Iceland).
The remains of the Great Auk and its eggs in collections are more numerous
than one would think, considering the enormous prices paid for mounted
specimens and eggs. There are at present known 79 or 80 skins, 26 or 27
skeletons, a great quantity of detached bones, and about 73 eggs.