LITTLE AUK 493 



Allied Species and Representative Forms. U. mandti, 

 an Arctic form, with 12 tail-feathers, with the bases of 

 the feathers forming the wing-patch, pure white, and the 

 black with a distinct green tinge, is common in the waters 

 of Spitzbergen, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, Arctic 

 Siberia and round to Behring Sea. U. columba, with 

 14 tail-feathers, and a black V-shaped bar on the white 

 wing-coverts, frequents the latter waters, while U. carbo, 

 with 14 tail-feathers and with no white on the wings, is 

 found further south, extending its range to Japan in 

 winter. U. snowi, an Eastern representative entirely 

 black, or with narrow white tips to the wing-coverts, and 

 14 tail-feathers, ranges from Southern Kamtschatka to 

 Japan. 



LITTLE AUK. Mergulus alle (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, 'Birds of Great Britain,' vol. v, pi. 

 50 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 624 ; Lilford, 

 ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vi, pi. 42. 



As a British species this sturdy little sea-bird is not 

 plentiful, though it visits our seas with fair regularity in the 

 winter months. It occurs chiefly in the north, less fre- 

 quently down the eastern seaboard of England. 



It visits the Welsh coast probably every winter, while 

 in Ireland, many maritime counties, more especially in the 

 north and west, bear records of its visits. 



As in Great Britain so also in Ireland, unusually large 

 numbers have been obtained after heavy storms, not only 

 on the coast but on inland rivers and lakes. 1 As instances 

 may be cited the hurricanes which raged in October, 1841, 2 

 and in the winters of 1893 and 1895. In the January of 

 the last mentioned year, great numbers 3 were taken in 

 Great Britain and in Ireland. 



1 According to Mr. Ussher the Little Auk has been obtained twice on 

 each of the following waters : Kiver Shannon, Lough Erne and Lough 

 Neagh. 



2 After this gale specimens were secured in two inland counties, viz., 

 Kilkenny and Queen's Co. (Ussher). 



3 On the Norfolk coast alone Mr. A. Patterson gives 302 as the 

 numbers taken in January, 1895 (' Zoologist,' 1901, p. 297). 



