LITTLE AUK. 87 



corded nine taken in Worcestershire ; three in Shropshire ; 

 some at Bristol, and other parts near the Severn. Since the 

 ahove was written the Little Auk has been obtained all 

 round the coast of England. In Scotland it is tolerably 

 common on the east side, but decidedly a straggler, accord- 

 ing to Mr. R. Gray, on the west ; and in the Shetlands and 

 Orkneys it is observed almost every winter. In Ireland, its 

 appearance in Wexford and Kerry has been noted by Thomp- 

 son ; and it has been observed on other parts of the coast. 

 There is no evidence that it has bred in any part of the 

 British Islands, although examples are occasionally obtained 

 in full summer plumage. Mr. F. Bond has a fine specimen 

 with full black throat, picked up dead in the Solent. 



The Little Auk visits the Fiieroes, the coasts of Scan- 

 dinavia, the North Sea, Germany, the Netherlands, France, 

 the western side of the Iberian Peninsula, the Canaries, and 

 the Azores. It is found round Iceland throughout the year, 

 but its only breeding-place there appears to be on Grimsey, 

 in the extreme north-west. About Bear Island, which, in 

 spite of its comparatively high latitude, is, as before observed, 

 under the influence of the Gulf Stream, the Little Auk is 

 not common, nor is it known to breed ; but in and about Spits- 

 bergen its numbers are almost incredible from 73° N. lat. up 

 to the drift ice, about which Parry found it up to 82° ; it was 

 also observed on Franz-Josef Land. It is common on the 

 west side of Novaya Zemlya, but rare on the east, and in the 

 Kara Sea, which seems to mark the limits of its range in 

 that direction. In Greenland it breeds from 68° N. lat. up- 

 wards, but although there are large colonies in Baffin Bay, 

 it does not appear to extend to the western side, nor can its 

 range be traced through the Arctic regions to the Pacific. In 

 winter it visits the Atlantic coast as far as New Jersey. 



The Little Auk deposits its single egg in holes or tunnels 

 under stones, so far in that the Arctic foxes cannot reach it : 

 often in cliffs up to 2 000 feet above sea-level ; the colour 

 is a pale greenish-blue, sometimes faintly spotted and 

 scrolled with reddish ; average measurements 1*9 by 1"2;") in. 

 At Foulke Bay, Major Feilden found the young just hatched 



