Audubon never saw a Great Auk in the field as he did with many of the species from which he produced watercolours for his Birds of America . His lithograph, No. 341 in the Birds of America , did show the Great Auk, but Audubon purchased this specimen at an auction in London, England in 1836. The head of our specimen. Image Size 94 Kb. Baillie reported that Hahn's correspondents had returned questionaires that tallied ' 78 Great Auk specimens, plus 3 additional possibles '.
Bones only exist from specimens taken in the New World, most likely from Funk Island, Newfoundland .
Newfoundland's colonies, even though they were the largest of all the Great Auk breeding colonies, have only produced skeletal material and eggs. Two viscera specimens in Copenhagen along with their skins are from some of the last Auks collected on Eldey Island, Iceland . Vassar had until the early 1960's consistently refused offers to purchase its specimen. The idea of purchasing Vassar's Great Auk arose during a discussion James L. Baillie of the ROM had with Dr. Ralph S. Palmer, a zoologist, at the American Ornithologist Union meeting held in 1964 at Lawrence, Kansas. Dr. Palmer knew members of the teaching staff and members of Vassar's board and thought that they might be amenable to the sale if enough money was offered and questions about the purchase could be asked diplomatically.