360 ALCAD.E. 



side of the channel, on the coasts of Holland and France, 

 the Little Auk is taken in severe winters. During the early- 

 part of November, 1841, a few of these birds were sent for 

 sale to the London markets. Some were taken at unusual 

 distances inland. Mr. Thrale, a collector in Hertfordshire, 

 sent me notice of one, now in his possession, that was ob- 

 tained on the mill-head at Wheathamstcad. Another was 

 picked up alive between Baldock and Royston, and is now 

 preserved in the Museum at Saffron Walden. I heard of 

 others taken near Birmingham. Mr. Strickland recorded 

 nine taken in Worcestershire ; three in Shropshire ; some 

 at Bristol, and other parts near the Severn. The Little Auk 

 is, however, a rare bird in the counties of Devon and Corn- 

 wall. Mr. W. Thompson has noticed its occurrence in Ire- 

 land at Wexford, and at Kerry ; at the latter it is suspected 

 that it may breed in the same locality as Brunnich*'s Guille- 

 mot. It has been shot in winter in Cumberland. 



North of Shetland it is found in different parts of Scandi- 

 navia. It breeds on the most northern of the Faroe Islands ; 

 and Mr. Proctor tells me that it breeds also at Iceland ; 

 he found the eggs laid under stones on Grimsey island. 

 Some writers say this little bird lays but one egg ; others 

 say two ; they are very rarely to be seen in collections ; the 

 length is one inch seven lines, the breadth one inch one line, 

 and the colour a uniform pale blue, not unlike the eggs of 

 our Common Starling. 



The Little Auk goes as far north as Nova Zembla, Spitz- 

 bergen, and Greenland. Sir Edward Parry, while accom- 

 panied by Captain James C. Ross, obtained one specimen as 

 far north as latitude 81°, with the Common Guillemot that 

 has already been referred to, and these were the only two 

 species of birds seen in that high latitude, and their only food 

 was small thin-skinned Crustacea. The Little Auk was, 

 however, found in great quantities by our Arctic voyagers 



