Britain and Ireland, the last recorded instance 

 being that of one taken off the coast of the County 

 of Waterford, and preserved in the collection of 

 Dr. Birkitt of Waterford. It is also said to have 

 bred on the island of Saint Kilda, appearing about 

 the beginning of May and leaving about the end 

 of June. It deposited its egg close to the sea mark, 

 being unable from the shortness of its wings to 

 mount higher. It was naturally a timorous bird, 

 incapable, from its structure, of flying, and almost 

 of walking, a circumstance which, together with 

 the fact of its laying only a single egg, may in some 

 measure account for its extinction. Its solitary egg, 

 which was about six inches long, was of a dirty 

 white colour, streaked with lines of a purple hue^ 

 and blotched with dark rusty spots at the larger 

 end. 



AUK, LITTLE. 



URIA ALLE, Temm. 



The Little Auk, as may be surmised from its ap- 

 pellation, is very minute compared with the preced- 

 ing one, being only about nine inches long. It visits 

 this country at uncertain periods during the winter 

 season, and is not unfrequently driven in stormy 

 weather a considerable distance inland. It is an 

 inhabitant of northern latitudes during summer, 

 being found in great numbers in Baffin's Bay, 



B 2 



