THE AUKS 



2307 





According to the writer last mentioned, " the ground colors are cream, white, blue, 

 and yellowish green, dark and clear pea green, and reddish and purplish brown, with 

 every conceivable intermediate tint. Some are irregularly blotched, others are fan- 

 tastically streaked with browns, pinks, or 

 grays in endless variety, while a few are 

 spotless or nearly so. ' ' Some closely re- 

 semble those of the razorbill, from which 

 they may always be distinguished by ap- 

 pearing creamy white instead of green 

 when viewed by transmitted light. 



The North Pacific is in- 



Short-Billed 

 Guillemots 



UTTI.E AUKS. 



The Little 

 Auk 



habited by six or seven 

 much smaller guillemots, 

 characterized by their very short beaks, 

 of which the tip is not decurved. These 

 constitute the genus Brachyrhamphus, 

 and while in some species, like the mar- 

 bled guillemot (/?. marmoratus}, the 

 front of the metatarsus is reticulated, in 

 others, such as the black-throated guille- 

 mot (B. antiquus}, it is covered in front 

 with large scutes. 



Breeding solely within the limits of the Arctic Circle, the little auk, 

 or rotche (Mergulus alle] is an Atlantic species, which only visits the 

 British Isles in winter, and is even then far more common in the Ork- 

 neys and Shetlands than in the south. It is a very small bird, measuring only 



about eight and one-half inches in 

 length, and differing from all the 

 members of the family by the 

 shortness of the symphysis of 

 the lower mandible, in which the 

 angle of the chin is much nearer 

 to the tip of the beak than to the 

 nostrils, instead of the reverse. 

 The whole beak is shorter than 

 the head, very thick, and broader 

 than high at the base, the profile 

 being arched, and the tips of both 

 mandibles notched, while the up- 

 per one is faintly grooved. The 

 rounded and lateral nostrils are 

 placed at the base of the beak and 

 partially covered with feathers. 



In coloration the little auk very closely resembles the guillemot; the head, chin, and 

 throat, as well as the upper parts being mostly black, while the remainder of the 



HEAD OF TUFTED AUK. 

 (From Guillemard's Cruise of the " Marchesa.") 



