BIRD WORTH £5000

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XX, Issue 19, 6 January 1930, Page 8

BIRD WORTH £5000

VALUE or THE GREAT AUK. SUPPOSED TO BE STILL ALIVE. Os the Great Auk, the world’s most valuable bird, still alive? A contributor to the journal of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds states tha while staying recently on the Lofodcn Islands, a lonely group off Norway, the discovery of an unknown bird was reported to him by two Norwegians. Their description tallied with that of a Great Auk, and when shown a picture of one, both men said it was iden tical with the bird they had seen. The last known Great Auk was killed in 1843. Since then the species has been considered extinct. A stuffed specimen sold in London this year realised £660. Lord Rothschild, the naturalist, was surprised when informed. 11 There has always been a doubt whether a Great Auk still existed on an island of Iceland,” he said. “This island has not been visited since 1833 and it is just possible that some of the birds might still be there. But it is a very gaint possibility. “A live specimen to-day would fetch any fantastic figure which ‘zoos’ or private collectors cared to pay. ’ ’ Mr Edward Valpy, F.Z.S., who rented 50,000 acres of the Lofodcn Islands for some years, said: “Almost anything could exist on these islands. They are unutterably lonely ami desoltc. I would like to belie that the Great Auk was still there.” “If the Auk is still alive it might be worth up to £5000,” said another naturalist.