LITTLE AUK. 861 



in some situations. In his Memoir on the Birds of Green- 

 land, published soon after one of the Voyages of Discovery, 

 Colonel Sabine observes : " This species was abundant in 

 Baffin's Bay, and Davis' Straits ; and in latitude 76° was 

 so numerous in the channels of water separating fields of ice, 

 that many hundreds were killed daily, and the ship's com- 

 pany supplied with them. The whole of the birds in the 

 breeding-season, the sexes being alike, had the under part of 

 the neck an uniform sooty-black, terminating abruptly, and 

 in an even line against the white of the belly ; the young 

 birds, which we saw in all stages from the egg, as soon as 

 they were feathered, were marked exactly as the mature 

 birds ; but in the third week in September, when we were 

 on our passage down the American coast, every specimen, 

 whether old or young, was observed to be in change ; and 

 in the course of a few days the entire feathers of the throat 

 and cheeks, and of the under part of the neck, had become 

 white." 



The double moult and its effects, have been already 

 noticed by Mr. Sabine in the extract, but a few farther par- 

 ticulars remain to be described. In the adult bird the beak 

 is black ; the irides hazel, with a small white spot over the 

 eye ; the head, hind neck, back, wings, and tail black, but 

 the ends of the secondaries and the sides of the tertials are 

 margined with white ; the colour of the chin, throat, and 

 neck in front, depend on the season, being black in summer 

 and white in winter, but mottled with black and white in 

 spring and autumn ; under surface of the body white ; legs 

 and toes yellowish-brown, the membranes between the toes 

 darker brown. Whole length of the bird about eight inches 

 and a half; of the wing from the wrist four inches and a 

 half. M, Temminck says the young birds of the year may 

 be distinguished by having their cheeks shaded with grey. 



