DOVEKIE. 405 



touches of blackish. At this time, probably, they are heard to 

 utter their uncouth and monotonous call of rottet, by which as 

 a name they are known to the Dutch navigators who have 

 penetrated to their dreary and remote haunts. 



Captain Ross's party met with these birds in great numbers 

 on the west coast of Greenland, where they were shot daily, 

 and supplied to the ship's company, who found them very 

 palatable, and free from any fishy taste, though their food con- 

 sists chiefly of a small species of crab (^Cancer), with which 

 the Arctic seas abound. 



This interesting little wanderer, that comes to our shores only 

 during the winter months, and gains our sympathy by its graceful 

 form and apparent helplessness, is a much more sturdy and self- 

 reliant bird than it gives any evidence of as we pick it up ex- 

 hausted from battling with the strong north wind that has thrown 

 it in our way, faint from hunger and wearied from the protracted 

 struggle. Its wings are small, but they are moved almost as 

 rapidly as a Humming Bird's, and propel the bird through the air 

 with great rapidity. This bird is an expert diver too, and though 

 awkward on the land, swims with easy grace ; and when wearied, 

 it tucks its head beneath its little wing, and rocked in the cradle of 

 the deep, sleeps as calmly and serenely as do human children upon 

 their mother's breast. When hungry, these little children of the 

 sea draw their food from the ocean's bosom. 



The Litde Auk nests only north of the Arctic Circle, and there 

 assembles in vast communities, and fills the air with its wild note, 

 which bears some resemblance to the syllables al-le. 



These birds are seen on our shores only in winter, and then 

 straggle as far south as New Jersey. Occasionally an example is 

 blown inland by a gale, one having been found as far away from 

 the sea as the Detroit River. 



