178 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 



may occasionally occur, it is as well to mention it, 

 although it is now rightly considered only a variety 

 of the Common Guillemot, from which it differs 

 only in summer plumage, when it has a white ring 

 round the eye, and a white streak passing back- 

 wards from the eye down the side of the neck : 

 this distinction is not apparent in the winter 

 plumage, nor is there any distinction between the 

 eggs. 



The Guillemot is included in Professor Ansted's 

 list, but is only marked as occurring in Guernsey 

 and Sark. There are two specimens in summer 

 plumage in the Museum, and one in winter 

 plumage. 



157. LITTLE AUK. Mergulus alle, Linnaeus. 

 French, " Guillemot nain." The Little Auk can 

 only be considered a rare occasional wanderer to 

 the Channel Islands, generally driven before the 

 heavy autumnal and winter gales. I only know of 

 the occurrence of two specimens : one of these was 

 recorded by Mr. Couch in the ' Zoologist ' for 1875, 

 as having been killed on the 30th January in that 

 year ; and I had a letter from Mr. Couch, dated 

 the 20th December, 1872, in which he informed 

 me that a Little Auk had been taken alive in 

 Guernsey on the 17th of that month : this one 

 had probably, as is often the case, been driven 



