44 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



ton or twelve birds were taken on the Detroit River." Mr. Purdy, of 

 Plymouth, Michigan, says that one was taken alive at Walled Lake, Oakland 

 County, by some fishermen and given to William Stark of Northville, who 

 kept it alive in his store where he (Mr. Purdy) saw and identified it. The 

 bird afterward died and was thrown away. A similar invasion occurred in 

 Dec, 1907, and numerous specimens were taken about Lake St. Clair and 

 in the vicinity of Detroit between Dec. 1st and 10th. 



The causes for the southward migration of these sea-birds, and especially 

 for their appearance so far inland are entirely unknown. Mr. James H. 

 Fleming of Toronto has been collecting data in regard to the " Great Flight " 

 of 1895-96, and I am informed through Mr. P. A. Taverner that so far as 

 known the stomach of every bird captured was entirely empty and the 

 birds were all much emaciated and enfeebled, so much so that many of the 

 specimens were readily captured by hand. In the vicinity of Toronto 

 scores, perhaps hundreds, were found and there is reason to believe that the 

 birds came south from the Arctic regions by thousands and that they could 

 not, or at least did not, find suitable food to keep them alive. 



This bird breeds on the Magdalene Islands, Gulf of St. Lawrence and 

 northward, laying a single heavily spotted egg on the bare rock of the 

 cliff. The eggs average 3.21 by 2.01 inches. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



In winter upper parts dusky or slate-colored, the secondaries alone tipped with white. 

 Below, pure white from chin to tail, including most of the sides of the head and neck, but 

 in young birds the white throat is more or less washed with dusky. A distinct groove or 

 furrow in the plumage behind the eye. Length, 14.50 to 18.50; wing, 7.45 to 8.80 inches; 

 culmen, 1.40 to L50; tarsus, 1.40 to 1.55. 



7. Little Auk. Alle alle (Lirin.). (34) 



Synonyms: Dovekie, Sea-dove. — Alca alle, Linn., 1758. — Alle alle, Stejn., 1885, and 

 most subsequent authors. 



Smallest of the family and resembling a miniature of Briinnich's Murre, 

 but of decidedly smaller size and proportionately smaller bill. 



Distribution. — Coasts and islands of the northern Atlantic and eastern 

 Arctic oceans; in North America south in winter to New Jersey; breeds in 

 high northern latitudes. 



This is an Arctic species confined as a rule to the sea and found inland 

 as a rule only when driven there by severe storms. There seems to be but 

 one record for Michigan, that by the late W. H. Collins of Detroit, whose 

 record (0. & O. Vol. VII, p. Ill, 1882) is as follows. "I received a fine 

 specimen of the sea dove killed here on Detroit River by one of our market 

 hunters. It was swimming among his decoy ducks. It proved to be a 

 young female." In corroboration of this record Mr. Covert Avrites me 

 that he saw the specimen and received the full history of its capture from 

 Mr. Collins, and has no reason to doubt the record. The specimen itself 

 may possibly be in existence still, but we have not been able to locate it. 



The species migrates southward along the Atlantic coast with some 

 regularity every winter and specimens are often taken along the coast of 

 Maine and Massachusetts, not infrequently in fresh water ponds ten to 

 fifty miles from the seashore. There is a record also of a specimen taken 

 on Lake Ontario two miles from Toronto on November 18, 1901 (Auk, 

 Vol. XIX, p. 94). 



