AUKS, AIURRES, AND PUFFINS 



31 



DOVEKIE 

 Alle alle ( LiiiiKciis) 



A. O. U. \umber ^14 

 Little Auk : Sea Dove : Alk- ; Koteli ; 



Other Names, 

 Ice-hird, 



General Description. — Length S'.. inches. Color 

 above, black: below, white: head and liill, formed like 

 those of a Quail. 



Color. — Adults in Summer: Head, neck all around, 

 and upper parts, glossy blue-black; sides of head, 

 neck, and throat, shaded with sooty-brown ; three 

 or four white streaks on shoulders; secondaries, tipped 

 with white ; under parts, pure wdiite ; bill, black : feet, 

 flesh-color in front, black liehind ancl on wclis ; iris, 



>(t' C'olor Plate 3 



brown. Adults in Winter: White of under jiarts 

 extendin.sr to bill, invading sides of head and neck and 

 nearl.N meeting on nape; otherwise as in summer. 



Nest and Eggs. — .A single greenish-blue egg laid in 

 crevices of rocky cliffs on islands or coasts near the sea. 



Distribution. — Coasts and islands of north .Atlantic; 

 breeds from Kane Basin and Baffin Bay east to Franz 

 Josef Land ; winters from southern Greenland south 

 to Long Island ( X. Y.). and rarely to Delaware Bay 

 and North Carolina : accidental near Melville Island, 

 and in Wisconsin. Michigan. Ontario, and Bermuda. 



• The little Dovekies or " Sea Doves " breed 

 along the coa.sts of Greenland and other sea 

 islands of the Atlantic, north of latitude 6g°, 

 and in winter come down the coast where less 

 ice abounds and where, consequentl}', food is 

 more easily secured. New Jersey is about the 

 usual limit of this s|jecies' southern journey. 

 They stay in small flocks in the open sea and 

 feed by diving. A[>parently at this season the\- 

 come on land but rarely. 



Cape Hatteras, ornithologically, is a \erv in- 

 teresting place. Here the warm waters of the 

 Gulf Stream meet and neutralize the last re- 

 maining vestige of the cold bearing currents 

 from the north. As the distribution of animal 

 life is largely determined bv climatic conditions, 

 the North Carolina coast affected bv these cur- 

 rents becomes the meeting place of manv north- 

 ward moving siiecies that naturally inhabit 

 warmer regions, and southward moving species 

 from the cold countries to the north. The ex- 

 treme southern migration of the r)o\-ekie illus- 

 trates this interesting fact. .V few miles nijrth 

 of Cape Hatteras I found, one December some 

 years ago, one of these little wanderers. It was 

 sitting on the beach in a tired-out condition and 

 made but feeble attemjjts to escape when I took 

 it in my hands. Then I discovered the cause 

 of its emaciated condition: one foot was missing. 

 Doubtless it had been bitten of¥ by some fish. 

 With its [)0wer of di\'ing in the ocean thus re- 

 duced at least one-half, its chances for securing 

 a livelihood were all but gone, and in the end 

 the tide had cast it upon the shore. Within a 

 few Injurs it died. des])ite the most energetic 

 efforts to induce it to eat such food as was 

 a\-ailable. 



The Eskimos kill many Sea Doves and use 



their feathered skins for making the liird-skin 



.shirts with which thev helj) ward ofif the biting 



frost of their country. The birds are taken in 



Vol. I — 4 



nets which the natives wield over the face of 



the cliff where the birds crowd together to breed. 



" I have often thought," wrote Audubon, '' how 



easy it would be to catch these tiny wanderers 



Drawing by R. I Brasher 



DOVEKIE (5 nat. size) 



These small Sea Doves manifest very little apprehension of 

 danger from the proximity of man 



of the ocean with nets thrown e.xpertly from 

 the how of a boat, for they inanifest very little 

 apjirehension of danger from the pro.ximity of 

 one. insomuch th;it I ha\e seen several killed 

 with the oars. Those which were caught alive 

 and ])laced on the deck, would at first rest a few 

 minutes with their bodies flat, then rise upright 

 and run about briskly, or attempt to fly off, which 

 they sometimes accomplished, when they hap- 

 pened to go in a straight course the whole length 

 of the ship so as to rise easily over the bulwarks. 

 On effecting their esca[)e they would alight on 

 ihc water and immediately disap|iear.'' 



T. GiLr.KKT ri-:.\us()N'. 



