THE LITTLE AUK (MERGULUS ALLE, LINN.). 241 
The Little Auk (Mergulus alle, Linn.). 
By W. Craise ANGUS. 
[Read 26th April, 1895.] 
British Ornithologists, have told us but little, from their own 
personal observation, of the habits of the Little Auk. Except in 
the breeding season, when Spitzbergen and Greenland are its 
headquarters, this bird is oceanic in its habits, seldom coming 
inland except in very stormy weather. Although there are 
undoubted instances of its occurrence in Scotland in summer, the 
Little Auk may be regarded as only by accident a summer 
visitant. There are those who regard the presence of this species 
in the British Islands as accidental under any circumstances. 
Such isnot my view. Without affirming that the bird is a regular 
frequenter of our shores, I am satisfied that it is of more frequent 
occurrence than is generally supposed, and, without laying claim 
to any special knowledge of the subject, I may give the result of 
my enquiries regarding the occurrence of the species on the 
Aberdeenshire coast, where I have had not unfrequent boating 
_ excursions in quest of wild fowl. On such occasions, Alexander 
_ Mitchell, who was widely known as a collector, was often of the 
party, and it is not too much to say that, in our winter 
_ outings, we would have been disappointed had we not, somewhere 
_ between the Dee and the Ythan, and at, say, from 15 to 20 miles 
_ from shore, come on the “Sea-doo,” the name by which the Little 
Auk is there locally known. ‘Those of the fishermen who took an 
interest in birds were not only familiar with the “‘Sea-doo,” but they 
would not have thought it an unusual occurrence to have met with 
it in winter anywhere from Montrose to Banff, within what, for want 
of a better term, I may call the ‘‘Sea-doo” line. The boatmen on 
occasion would recapitulate with justifiable pride the enquiries 
which Dr. Fleming or Professor Macgillivary had addressed to 
