4. On two unrecorded Eggs of the Great Auk ( Alca impennis ) discovered in an Edinburgh Collection; with remarks on the former existence of the bird in Newfoundland

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
• Main Author: Gray, Robert
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1880
• Subjects: General Engineering; Great auk; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0370164600044448; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0370164600044448

The two eggs of the Great Auk which I now exhibit were bought in Dowell's Auction Rooms rather more than a month ago, and formed part of a collection of “birds' eggs, shells, and other natural history specimens” which was disposed of among a lot of miscellaneous property belonging to a legal gentleman of this city. This small collection of eggs had been in the possession of the owner for about thirty years, and the two eggs in question had been purchased by his father from another collector in Edinburgh— a Mr Little—in whose possession it is thought, from collected and trustworthy evidence, the specimens had been at least other thirty years. These eggs, therefore, have probably not changed hands more than once during a period of fifty or sixty years. The present owner of the specimens, Mr Small, animal preserver, George Street, purchased the lot at the sale for £1, 12s., and has since taken great pains to establish the few facts I have stated regarding their history.