5S8 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



land. It feeds principally on shrimps, and a small 

 species of helix *. 



2. Alca Alle. The Little Auk, or Roach. — 

 This is an extremely numerous species in some si- 

 tuations in the Polar Seas. They occur in the wa- 

 ter in thousands together ; and sometimes in like 

 abundance on pieces of ice. They are active in the 

 water ; but rather slow in flight. When on the ice, 

 they generally sit in an erect posture. They dive 

 quickly on being alarmed, and pass through the 

 water, by the use of their wings, with great veloci- 

 ty. Feeding on shrimps, they are found in great- 

 est numbers in the turbid dark-green coloured sea. 

 On the approach of thick weather, they are particu- 

 larly noisy. 



Peocellaria gladalis. — Petrel, Fulmar, or Mallcmuk. 



The fulmar is the constant companion of the 

 whale-fisher. It joins his ship immediately on pass- 

 ing the Shetland Islands, and accompanies it through 

 the trackless ocean to the highest accessible latitudes. 

 It keeps an eager watch for any thing thrown over- 

 board ; the smallest particle of fatty substance can 

 scarcely escape it. As such, a hook baited with a 

 piece of fat meat or blubber, and towed by a long 

 twine over the ship's stern, is a means employed by 



» My friendj Mr William Swainson, of Liverpool, on com- 

 paring a drawing of this bird with the British puffin, consider- 

 ed it as a different species. It, however, corresponds very near, 

 ly with the Alca arctica of Latham. 



