The Auks. 



21 



THE 



LITTLE AUK. 



{AlU allc.) 



The small size of the Little Auk is its most distinguishing 

 character, as it does not exceed seven-and-a-half-inches in 

 length. It is black, with a white breast, and with the flanks 

 streaked with black, while the scapulars have white edgings and 

 the secondaries white tips. It ma}- probably breed on some of the Hebrides but is 

 prmcipally a winter visitor to Great Britain. Its home is in the Arctic Regions 

 where it is a common bird, occurring in flocks of many thousands together. Unlike 

 other Auks, it is a noisy species, and breeds in cliffs, la3-ing a single egg, which is 

 greenish-white without any markings, and measures about two inches in length. 



nrlica.) 



This species is often called the 

 ' Sea- Parrot ' from its large, but 

 not in an}' way Parrot-like, bill. 

 The Little .-Vuk. The latter differs, however, re- 



markably from the long thin bill of the Guillemots, 

 and is not only very deep and compressed, but in the breeding-season it has grooves 

 arranged in a series of plates, and a blue wattle above the eye, all of which are shed 

 or moulted in the autumn, just as an ordinary bird moults its feathers. On most of 

 the rocky coasts of the United Kingdom the Puffin breeds, even on those of the 

 south-west of England, where it is abundant on some of the islands. It is also 

 found breeding on the Atlantic coast in North-eastern America, as well as in various 

 localities in Western Europe down to the coast of Portugal. Its food consists of 

 small fish, and the lancelet is a favourite prey. In some of its northern haunts it 

 nests simply in thousands, but, unlike the Guillemot, the single egg is deposited in a 

 burrow, or in the cleft of a rock. It is white, with a few spots of pale brown and grey : 

 the latter are the underlying markings and are frequently more pronounced than the 

 brown ones. The length is from two inches-and-a-quarter to two inches-and-a-half. 



