Cambridge Library Collection – Zoology: The Great Auk, or Garefowl: Its History, Archaeology, and Remains

The great auk (Pinguinus impennis, formerly Alca impennis), a flightless bird of the north Atlantic, became extinct in the mid-1850s because of over-hunting – apart from being used as a food source and as fish-bait, its down was used for feather beds, and efforts in the early nineteenth century to reduce the slaughter were not effective. The last breeding pair was killed in 1844. This 1885 work by Scottish naturalist and scientist Symington Grieve (1850-1932) collects together ‘a considerable amount of literature bearing upon the ‘History, Archaeology, and Remains’ of this extinct bird’. The material includes articles on the historic distribution of the great auk, its known habits, its various names, and information on all the surviving specimens, whether stuffed, skeletal, bones, or eggs. The book is illustrated with drawings and lithographs of auk remains, and an appendix supplies historical and contemporary documents on the auk from all over Europe.