382 BRITISH BIRDS. 



about forty-five degrees up to the cliffs, which rise about seven hundred 

 feet higher. Along these slopes the Little Auks flew in a constant stream 

 a few feet above the stones, occasionally alighting in thousands on the 

 rocks, under which their eggs were deposited, and in the winding narrow 

 passages, between which they found convenient places in which to deposit 

 their eggs, secure from the foxes which prowl round in great numbers, ever 

 on the look-out for a meal. The Esquimaux in this valley eat great 

 numbers of these birds, which they catch in a very ingenious manner. 

 Armed with a net attached to a long pole they conceal themselves among 

 the rocks, and often catch half a dozen birds at a time by suddenly raising 

 the net at the moment the flock is passing over their heads. Dr. Hayes 

 saw more than a hundred birds caught in this manner in a very short 

 time. 



The Little Auk is a very small bird, scarcely half the weight of a Puffin, 

 and less than a fourth of that of a Guillemot. There is no difference in 

 colour between the sexes. In general appearance it very closely re- 

 sembles the Razorbill, having in nuptial dress the general colour of the 

 upper parts black, but, in addition to the white tips of the secondaries, 

 the scapulars are broadly margined with white, and there is a small 

 white spot over each eye ; the chin and throat are black, but the rest of 

 the underparts are white. The under wing-coverts are pale brown, and 

 the axillaries are black on one web and white on the other. Bill black ; 

 legs and feet greyish brown, paler on the toes ; irides hazel. After the 

 autumn moult the chin, throat, and sides of the head are white, uniform 

 with the rest of the underparts. 



Young in first plumage closely resemble adults in breeding-plumage. 

 After their first autumn moult they only differ from adults in their 

 paler colouring, in the absence of the white spot over the eye, and in 

 wanting the white margins to the scapulars. After their first spring moult 

 they closely resemble their parents in nuptial dress. Young in down are 

 uniform sooty brownish black. 



