Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-10-02
VALUABLE EGGS.

Precious Relics of the Once Numerous
Great AUX, or Gare-Fowl.
In 1888 an egg of the great aux was
sold for 100 guineas, whilst more re-
Gently an egg of the same species
fetched e225 Although these may seem
enormous sums to give for a relic. the
transactions are not without others TO
keep them in countenance. Only few
years ago two eggs OF the same KIN"
fetched 100 and 102 guineas;respectiVeiy'
while the egg first named realized
little over twenty years ago e33 los
At that time it was discov-
cred, together with four Others
packed away in a Undiscovered box in
the museum of the Royal College OF Sur
ceons. these being sold in 1868. From
this it would seem that in the ornl.
theological market the complete sheli OF
a great auk's egg is worth nearly 4lIO,
and a broken one only e70 less. 1t Will
be seen that the purchase of one OF
these may be good investment, ana
what mine of wealth great aux tna'
was a good layer might prove to ms
fortunate possessor can only DO con-
iectured. At the present time the num-
Der of eggs of this species known to eXls'
IS sixty-six-twenty-fi of which are I'D
museums and forty-one in private COL
lections; of the total number forty
three are retained in Great britain,
When bird becomes so rare that the
individual remains can be counted, the
same may be taken to be practically ex-
tinct as a species. The great aux mas
pursued a policy of extinction for the
past two or three centuries, until now,
like the mighty moa and the dodo, IL
has ceased to exist. The great aux, or
care fowl, was one of those birds which,
from long disuse, had lost at once tho
power of flight and preservation. 1t
was great shambling bird, as large as
goose. and ill-adapted to travel on
land. How these things told against III
may be inferred from the story of one
Captain Richard Whitbourne, who.
writing of the discovery of New
foundland in 1920, says that
among the abundant water fowl of these
parts are penguins great auks) "as
bigge as geese, and fye not, for they
have but short wing, and they multi
ply SO infinitely, upon certain nat
island, that men drive them from thence
upon boord, into their boats by hun
dreds at a time" This process of ex-
tinction went on in Iceland and else
where until about the middle of the
present century hardly any birds re-
manned. The Icelanders robbed the
aulss of their eggs for domestic use. and
upon one occasion the crew of British
privateer remained upon one of the
Skerries all day killing many
birds and treading down their eggs
and young. This went on until
the last birds were taken, and there
is but the faintest hope that it may yet
linger on in the inaccessible North.
Although awkward and travelling with
the greatest difficulty on land. the great
aux was perfectly at home in tho water,
and travelled both upon and under the
surface with the rapidity of fish. The
time of haunting the land was during
the breeding season, in early summer.
At this period the aux resorted to the
rocks, in the dark recesses of which the
females deposited one large egg-large
even for the size of the bird. These
had whitish-green ground, streaked
with brown, and nearly five inches in
1nnnth -Snactatnr