BLACK-AND-WHITE BIRDS. 35 



COMMON GUILLEMOT— 18 inches; bill black, long, 



straight, and sharply pointed ; legs and feet dull 



olive. 

 BLACK GUILLEMOT— 14 inches; legs deep red like 



Puffin, but bill dark, longer, and pointed ; plumage 



wholly black save a white wing -patch and white, 



though black-edged, underwings. 

 LITTLE AUK— 8^ inches ; similarly black above and 



white below ; visits our seas, principally in the north, 



in Hocks in winter. 



LITTLE AUK.— Plate 17. 84- inches. Head, 

 neck, and upper parts black ; a white spot over the 

 eye ; wings black, with a white cross-bar and some 

 of the flight-feathers tipped Avith white ; under parts 

 white ; bill and legs grayish-black. In winter the 

 chin and throat become white, and the white of the 

 throat extends round the neck as a partial collar. 

 Winter migrant. 



The Little Auk is a clifF-breeder in the far north, 

 visiting the more northerly coasts of the British 

 Islands, and the Welsh and Irish coasts, in winter ; 

 at times it goes as far south as the English Channel, 

 and storm-blown birds are occasionally found at 

 a considerable distance inland. In appearance the 

 Little Auk resembles the Puffin more than any other 

 of the Auks, especially when the Puffin has shed the 

 gaudy sheath which in summer covers the dark, true 

 bill inside. Like the Puffin, the Little Auk takes to 

 the open sea as soon as the breeding season is over, 

 passing its whole time there, and even sleeping upon 

 the water. The short, quick-beating wings and rapid, 

 straight flight recall the Puffin ; also the bird's habit, 

 >vhen disturbed, of splashing along the surface of the 



F 



