LITTLE AUK. 



P YGOPODES. 



85 

 ALCID.E. 



Mekgulus alle (Linnaeus*). 

 THE LITTLE AUK, 



OE COMMON EOTCHE. 



Mergulus melanoleucos. 



Mergulus, VieiUotf. — Bill shorter than the head, thick, broader than high 

 at the base ; culmen arched ; upper mandible indistinctly grooved ; under one 

 with the symphisis very short and oblique ; tips of both mandibles notched ; 

 commissure arched ; nostrils lateral, round, situated at the base of the bill and 

 partly covered with small feathers. Legs abdomiuil, short ; feet of three toes 

 all directed forwards, and united by a membrane. Wings and tail short. 



The Little Auk, or Common Rotche, as it is also called, 

 though in its habits very similar to the Guillemots and the 

 true Auks, is only a winter visitor to the British Islands, 

 and is more frequently met with among those of Orkney and 



* Alca Alle, Linnteus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 211 (1766). 

 t Analyse, p. 67 (1816). 



