Part 11

"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.

I HAVE IN MY MUSEUM:

1. One adult female, formerly in the collection of the late Comte de Riocour at Vitry-le-François, in France. I bought this specimen from the late Alphonse Boucard, together with the bulk of the birds of the Riocour collection. It is evidently an adult female, having the white lines on the bill not very much developed, and showing a distinct grey tinge on the flanks. This shade is present in both my Great Auks; the feathers of the flanks, just under the wing, are nearly white, with a conspicuous, very light grey border. This grey tinge is present in all females, but appears to be absent in adult males. My bird is apparently in worn breeding plumage. As it was not very well mounted and the feet slightly damaged, I had it reduced to a "skin."

{156} 2. Another adult female. I purchased this from Mr. Rowland Ward, who had it from Mr. Leopold Field in London, in 1897. According to a letter, dated Paris le 20 Jan., 1890, written by the late A. Boucard, who sold it in that year to Mr. Field, the history is as follows: "This bird was captured in Iceland in 1837, did first belong to Mr. Eimbeck of Brunswick and afterwards in the collection of Mr. Bruch from Mayence." We must accept this information by the late A. Boucard as correct, though it is difficult to understand that in the most painstaking and exact list of remains of the Great Auk, by Prof. Wilhelm Blasius of Braunschweig, or anywhere else, no mention is made of a specimen in the possession of the late Eimbeck, or the late Bruch. Moreover, we have no explanation where this Auk has been between the time of Bruch's death and 1890, when Boucard sold it to Mr. Field in London.

This specimen has been described as "immature," but this is a mistake. Evidently it arose from some white speckles being visible on the neck _in the photograph_ (see Symington Grieve, Trans. Edinburgh Field Nat. and Micros. Society, explanation to plate III, on page 269). The specimen itself, however, shows no white speckles, but only worn feathers, out of which the illusion arose in the photograph. This error has also been transferred to the admirable treatise on the Great Auk in the New Edition of Naumann. The grey shade "on the body lower than the wing," mentioned by Mr. Symington Grieve, is not a sign of immaturity, but appears in all adult females, though it is said to be absent in males.

Some years ago an extraordinary rumour was current in Germany about the Great Auk in the Brehm collection; it was said to have been exchanged by the widow of Pastor C. L. Brehm for a rare Dresden cup, and that its present resting-place was unknown. I do not know who invented this story, or how it arose, but suffice it to say, that the Auk which was in the Brehm collection was sold to the late King of Italy, in 1868 or 1869. The business was concluded by Dr. Otto Finsch, and the money was used for the benefit of a brother of the late Dr. A. E. Brehm, as it had been the wish of his father, Pastor Brehm. The specimen was re-stuffed by the late taxidermist Schwerdtfeger in Bremen and forwarded to a professor in Florence. It was kept for years at the "Veneria Reale," and recently, when the collection at that castle was dissolved, was placed in the Museum at Rome. It is one of the finest Great Auks known.

{157}

AESTRELATA CARIBBAEA (CARTE).

(PLATE 37.)

_Procellaria jamaicensis_ Bancroft, Zoological Journal V, p. 81 (1835--Nomen nudum!).

_Pterodroma caribbaea_ Carte, P.Z.S. 1866, p. 93, pl. 10 ("Blue Mountains in insula Jamaica").

_Aestrelata caribbaea_ Giglioli & Salvadori, Ibis 1869, p. 66.

_Fulmarus caribbaeus_ Gray, Handlist B. III, p. 107 (1871).

_Aestrelata jamaicensis_ Ridgway, Man. N. Am. B., p. 67; Cory, Cat. West-Indian B., p. 84 (1892).

_Oestrelata jamaicensis_ Salvin, Cat. B. Brit. Mus, p. 403 (1896).

It is surprising that the name _jamaicensis_ has generally been adopted for this species, as Bancroft gave no description whatever. The first description is that of Carte, in 1866, which is as follows:--"Head, neck, back, and wings of a uniform dark sooty brown; vertex and external webs of the primaries a shade or so darker; abdominal feathers and under tail-coverts a shade or two lighter than those of the back; upper tail-coverts and basal portion of tail-feathers of a light grey or dirty white. The light-coloured patch on the rump is conspicuous when the wings are expanded, but completely concealed when they are closed. Irides dark hazel. Tarsi, toes, webs, and nails jet-black.

"Length about 12¾ inches; expanse of wings 34 inches; length from carpal joint to tip of first primary 10¾ inches; length of bill, measured from gape, 1-5/8 inches; length of nasal tubes 5/16 inch; length of interval between nostrils and commencement of apical curve of upper mandible ¼ inch; length of tarsi 1-5/10 inches; length of toes, outer and middle, sub-equal 2 inches; length of inner toe 1-5/8 inches. First and second primaries sub-equal, and about ½ inch longer than the third. Tail about 4½ inches long and round at extremity. The closed wings extend about 1½ inches beyond the tail. Hallux small, and in shape triangular."

"With respect to the habits of the bird, Mr. March has most kindly furnished me with the following interesting details:--

"It is a night-bird, living in burrows in the marly clefts of the mountains at the east and north-east end of the island. The burrows form a gallery 6 to 10 feet long, terminating in a chamber sufficiently commodious to accommodate the pair; from this they sally forth at night, flying over the sea in search of food (fishes), returning before dawn. It is often seen on moonlight nights and at sunrise running about the neighbourhood of its domicile, and sometimes crossing the road, regardless of the labourers going to their work. I know nothing of its nidification." {158}

The type of "_Pterodroma caribbaea_" is preserved in the Dublin Museum, and three specimens are in the British Museum. This bird is one of the rarest in collections, and all modern collectors have failed to obtain specimens. Quite recently (1906) Mr. B. Hyatt Verrill published a pamphlet entitled "Additions to the Avifauna of Dominica." In this unpaginated essay he said under the heading "_Aestrelata jamaicensis_": "Not uncommon (on Dominica), but seldom seen during the day. Breeds at La Bime, Pointe Guignarde, and Lance Bateaux, as well as at Morne Rouge and Scott's Head. In many of the above localities the musky odour of these birds is very pronounced when passing the cliffs, wherein they breed, on a calm evening. At dusk they may often be seen flying about the cliffs in company with myriads of bats that spend the day in the fissures and crevices. They are very difficult to procure, and although shot at repeatedly only two specimens have been obtained."

From all former evidence we might have well considered this species to be extinct, but if Mr. Verrill's statement is correct it would be far from exterminated. I do not, however, know if the Dominica specimens have been compared with Jamaica examples, and if Mr. Verrill's determination (apparently made on Dominica) is therefore correct.

Habitat: Jamaica. {159}

AESTRELATA HASITATA (KUHL).

_Procellaria hasitata_ (sic) Kuhl, Beitr. z. Zool. Temminck, Pl. Col. 416 (1826); Gould, B Australia VII, pl. 47 (1845).

_Procellaria diabolica_ Lafresnaye, Rev. Zool. 1844, p. 168.

_Procellaria meridionalis_ Lawrence, Ann. Lyceum N.Y. IV, p. 475 (1848-- ), V, pl. 15, p. 220 (1852).

_Procellaria rubritarsi_ Newton, Zoologist 1852, p. 3692 (ex Gould's MS., descr. nulla).

_Aestrelata haesitata_ Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. XLII, p. 768 (1856), Elliot, B. N. America II. pl. 60, fig. 1 (1868); Rothsch. & Hart, New Edition of "Naumann" XII, p. 20 (1903).

_Aestrelata diabolica_ Bonap., Consp. Av. II, p. 189 (1855).

_Oestrelata haesitata_ Newton, Ibis 1870, p. 277; Dresser, B. Europe VIII, p. 545, pl. 618 (1880); Stevens, B. of Norfolk, III, p. 361, pl. 4 (1890); Salvin, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXV, p. 403 (1896).

Mr. Saunders describes this bird as follows: "The adult has the crown and nape dark brown, hind-neck white, cheeks and ear-coverts greyish; mantle dark brown; upper tail-coverts white; central tail-feathers chiefly brownish-black, the rest more or less white on their basal portions but broadly edged with brown; forehead and under-parts white; bill black; legs and feet dusky-yellow. Length 16 inches, wing 11.3 inches. The immature bird is believed to be mottled with brown on the forehead and to be duller in tint on the upper parts."

Though evidently not quite extinct, it seems certain that the fate of this bird is sealed. In former times it used to breed in great numbers on several of the West Indian Islands: Hayti, Guadeloupe, and Dominica. Its last breeding place was the Morne au Diable or Morne Diablotin on Dominica. There it was searched for in vain by Colonel Feilden, in 1889, who wrote a lengthy article about it in the "Trans. Norfolk and Norwich Nat. Society" V. p. 24-39. Mr. Selwyn Branch again, ten years later, ascended La Morne au Diable, and found the old breeding places deserted. The "Manicou," evidently an introduced North-American Opossum, Mongoose and rats had entirely extirpated the "Diable."

Two-and-a-half centuries ago Père du Tertre found this Petrel breeding on Guadeloupe, and Père Labat, about forty years later, found it in great numbers, and gave a long, graphic description of it in his "Nouveau Voyage aux isles de l'Amérique" (Edit. I, Vol. II, pp. 349-353). These birds were then known as the "Diable" or "Diablotin," and their flesh was highly esteemed, and they were even salted and exported to Martinique and other French islands in great numbers. {160}

In 1876 Mr. F. A. Ober searched already unsuccessfully for our birds.

It seems that the disturbance and destruction on their breeding places has scattered these Petrels about, for specimens have at various times been taken on the coast of Florida and Virginia, and even as late as 1893 and 1895, inland of the State of New York on Oneida Lake, in Ulster County, Vermont and Ontario; moreover, a specimen has been killed in 1850 in Norfolk, England, and an example in the Museum of Boulogne is said to have been killed in the neighbourhood of that town.

In an undated and unpaginated pamphlet, received last year in Europe, Mr. A. Hyatt Verrill informs us that this bird is "not uncommon on the fishing grounds and in Martinique and Guadeloupe channels," and that he took a specimen in September, 1904. This statement requires confirmation.

In collections this bird is very rare. I have the male (in moult) which was caught on August 28th, 1893 on Oneida Lake, in the State of New York.

Habitat: West Indian Islands.

{161}

HEMIPHAGA SPADICEA (LATH.)

(PLATE 21.)

_Chestnut-shouldered Pigeon_ Latham, Gen. Syn. Suppl. II, add. p. 375 (1802--Norfolk Island).

_Columba spadicea_ Latham, Ind. Orn., Suppl. p. LX, No. 7 (1802--Norfolk Island); Temminck and Knip, Pigeons, II, p. 1, pl. 1 (1808--"Friendly Islands."--Errore).

_Columba gigas_ Ranzani, Elementi di Zool. III, 1, p. 223 (1821--"Friendly Islands."--Errore).

_Columba princeps_ Vigors, P.Z.S. 1833, p. 78 (Australia--errore).

_Columba leucogaster_ Wagler, Syst. Av., Columba spec. 12 (1827--Norfolk Island).

_Hemiphaga spadicea_ Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXI, p. 238 (1893).

The Norfolk Island Pigeon, _Hemiphaga spadicea spadicea_, is very similar to the New Zealand Pigeon, _Hemiphaga spadicea novaezealandiae_, but differs in having the hind-neck coppery or metallic green, sharply defined from the chestnut back, the wings and upper wing-coverts more greyish, less greenish, also the lower back and rump somewhat more greyish.

As far as we know this pigeon was only found on Norfolk Island, the locality "Australia" being doubtless erroneous. Like so many other birds it became extinct on Norfolk Island, probably more than half a century ago.

There are evidently quite a number of specimens in various museums, many of which have never been recorded. I am aware of the following examples:

1 in the British Museum (Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXI, p. 238). 3 in the Liverpool Museum (Bull. Liverp. Mus. I, p. 35). 1 in my own collection (Proc. IV. Orn. Congress, p. 215). 1 in Philadelphia, U.S. America (Cassin, U.S. Expl. Exp. B, p. 225). 1 in Frankfurt a.M. (Hartert, Kat. Vogelsamml., p. 189). 1 in Wiesbaden (Lampe, Jahrb. Nassau Ver. 58). 1 in Bremen (Hartlaub, Verz. Museum, p. 98). 1 in Lisbon (Forbes and Rob., Bull. Liverp. Mus. II, p. 130). 1 in Leyden (Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas). 1 in Vienna (Ibis 1860, p. 422). 1 in Naples, seen by myself. 1 in Milan, examined by myself.

The specimen at Tring was bought at the auction of the "Cumberland Museum" at Distington.

{163}

ALECTROENAS NITIDISSIMA (SCOP.)

(PLATE 22.)

_Pigeon hollandais_ Sonnerat, Voy. Ind. Orient. II, p. 175, pl. 101 (1782).

_Hackled Pigeon_ Latham, Syn. B. II, 2, p. 641, No. 36 (1783).

_Columba nitidissima_ Scopoli, Del. Flor. and Faun. Insubr. II, p. 93, No. 89 (1786) (ex Sonnerat).

_Columba franciae_ Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 2, p. 779, No. 51 (1788). (ex Sonnerat).

_Columba botanica_ Bonnaterre, Enc. Méth. I, p. 233 (1790).

_Ramier périssé_ Levaillant, Ois. d'Afr. VI, p. 74, pl. 267 (1808).

_Columba jubata_ Wagler, Syst. Av., _Columba_, sp. 22 (1827).

_Alectroenas nitidissima_ G. R. Gray, List Gen. B., p. 58 (1840).

_Alectroenas franciae_ Reichenbach, Syn. Av., _Columbariae_, p. 2, f. 1302 (1847).

_Columbigallus franciae_ Des Murs, Encycl. d'Hist. Nat., Ois. VI., p. 31, (1854?).

_Ptilopus nitidissimus_ Schlegel and Pollen, Rech. Faun. Madag., p. 159 (1868).

_Alectroenas nitidissimus_ G. R. Gray, Hand-list II, p. 228, No. 9164 (1870).

_Alectoroenas nitidissimus_ A. Newton, P. Z. S. 1879, pp. 2-4.

Sonnerat's original description, translated into English, is as follows: "It is much larger than the European Woodpigeon; the feathers of the head, neck and breast are long, narrow, and end in a point. These feathers are rather curiously constructed, they have the polish, brilliancy, and feel of a cartilaginous blade. I could not, with the aid of a lens, distinguish whether these blades were formed by the conglomeration of the barbules, but we may take it for granted that they are constituted in a like manner to the wing appendages of the Bohemian Waxwing and the cartilaginous blades of Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl. The eye is surrounded by naked skin of a deep red; the back, the wings and the belly are of a dark blue; the rump and tail are of a very bright carmine red; the beak and iris are of the same colour, and the feet are black."

Undoubtedly quite extinct. Only three specimens are known of this bird: one in Edinburgh, one in Paris, and one in Mauritius. Some bones were collected by the Rev. H. H. Slater.

Habitat: Mauritius. {164}

ALECTROENAS(?) RODERICANA (MILNE-EDWARDS).

_Columba rodericana_ Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sc. Nat. (5) XIX art. 3, p. 16, pl. 12, ff. 1, 1a, 1b, 1c (1874).

The original description of the sternum is as follows:--"It belongs to a species small in size, barely as large as _T. tympanistria_, but evidently much better built for flight. In fact the most striking characters of this sternum are the large size of the bouclier, the large size of the lateral notches, and the shape of the keel, whose anterior angle is not much produced in front. The coracoidal grooves are large and only slightly oblique. The lateral branches detach themselves from the bone in front of the costal facets--they are very widely spread, and stretch more directly outwards than in the remainder of the species of the family. The lower lateral branches are equally divergent, and the median blade of the posterior edge is remarkable from its enlargement. The keel is moderately prominent, its anterior angle is much rounded, and does not reach the level of the episternal apophysis, as is the case, as a rule, in the pigeons. All these peculiarities, to which must be added the general flattening of the bone which is hardly at all sloped like a roof, separate the pigeon of Rodriguez very widely, not only from _Erythroena_ and _Turtur_, but also from _Vinago_. In its shape in general, by the little pronounced keel and the direction of the latter, this sternum presents certain analogies to the essentially arboreal species such as those of the genus _Carpophaga_, but they all differ in having the space for the costal facets on the sides of the sternum much more extended, the superior lateral branches larger, and the latter arising further back, so that the lateral notches are smaller. Up to the present I do not know any genus of the family of _Columbidae_ in which the sternum can at all be likened to that found recently in Rodriguez, and therefore in all probability this fossil remainder is of yet another vanished species, which I propose to call _Columba rodericana_." (Translated.)

It is probable that Milne-Edwards's _C. rodericana_ belonged to the genus _Alectroenas_, and was the representative on Rodriguez of the _Alectroenas nitidissima_ of Mauritius. 1 humerus in the Tring Museum.

Habitat: Rodriguez.

{165}

NESOENAS SALVAD.

Soles normal, not very broad, only the hind toe with the skin prominently expanded on the sides. First primary about equal to the sixth. Tail entirely rufous, composed of twelve feathers.

NESOENAS MAYERI (PREVOST).

(PLATE 3, FIG. 3.)

_Columba mayeri_ Prévost & Knip, Pigeons II, pl. 60 (1843).

_Columba meyeri_ Schlegel & Pollen, Rech. Faun. Mad. p. 111, pl. 36 (1868).

_Peristera meyeri_ G. R. Gray, Gen. B. III App. p. 24 (1849).

_Carpophaga meyeri_ G. R. Gray, fide Bp. Consp. Av. II p. 45 (1854).

_Trocaza meyeri_ Bonaparte, Consp. Av. II p. 45 (1854).

_Trocaza meijeri_ Pollen, N.T.D. I p. 318 (1863).

_Nesoenas mayeri_ Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. vol. XXI p. 327 (1893).

The following is the description by Salvadori in the "Catalogue of Birds":--"Head, neck and underparts pale pink, fading into whitish towards the forehead, cheeks and upper throat, and passing into rather darker pink on the mantle; remainder of the upper back and the entire wings brown, with a slight shade of olive and rufous; lower back and rump greyish, the latter mottled with chestnut; upper tail coverts and tail cinnamon, the outer tail feathers fading into buff on the outer webs and towards the tips; undertail-coverts pink, like the mantle; undersurface of the wings ashy brown, slightly pale on the axillaries, and under wing-coverts iris yellow; bill yellow, shaded with red towards the base; legs red (fide Shelley). Total length about 15.5 inches, wing 8.5, tail 6.5, bill 0.86, tarsus 1.3."

In the live bird the pink soon fades away almost entirely, and the olive shade on the wings is strongly developed.

This bird was not found by the Rev. H. H. Slater, during his visit to Mauritius. As observed by Mons. Paul Carié (Ornis XII, p. 127), the idea that it is extinct is, however, incorrect, as it can still easily be procured, though it is rare. M. Georges Antelme, of Mauritius, possesses the eggs of this pigeon. That it still exists is also evident from two specimens which were sent to the Zoological Gardens, London, last year, and are still living there.

Habitat: Mauritius. {166}

NESOENAS DUBOISI SP. NOV.

_Pigeons sauvages d'un rouge roussastre_ Le Sieur D.B., Voyages aux Iles Dauphine ou Madagascar, etc., p. 171 (1674--Bourbon).

Talking of Wild Pigeons, "Le Sieur D.B." tells us that there were on the island of Bourbon "others of a russet red colour, a little larger than European pigeons, with the beak larger, red at base near the head, the eyes surrounded by a fiery colour, as in the pheasants. At a certain season they are so fat 'qu'on ne leur voit point de croupion;' they taste very good."