230 ALCADJE. 



GENUS CV. MERGULUS (LITTLE AUK). 



SPECIES 222 THE LITTLE AUK. 



Mergulus alle. Jardine. 

 Macareux moine. Temra. 



Rotche. 



THIS species, although not of actual rarity, is one of unusual 

 occurrence, and when obtained it is only after the preva- 

 lence of high winds or storms, when driven in to seek 

 the protection afforded by the coast, which in most instances 

 is useless, as they have usually been found dead in the 

 most central portions of the island, remote from any sea, and 

 killed by the violence of the weather. 



Breeding in high northern latitudes, they occur in countless 

 numbers, as at Spitzbergen, " supplying the ships' com- 

 pany with a variation of food," and described by Captain 

 Beechy in his voyage to the North Pole : u So numerous, 

 that we have frequently seen an uninterrupted line of them, 

 extending full halfway over the bay, or to a distance of more 

 than three miles, and so close together, that thirty have fallen 

 at one shot. This living column, on an average, might have 

 been about six yards broad, and as many deep. There must 

 have been at least four millions of birds on the wing at one 

 time."* 



Very rare during summer, one instance obtained upon the 

 Galway coast at that season, in adult male plumage, has come 

 under our notice. 



Habitat Northern Europe. 



GENUS CVI. ALCA (AUK). 

 SPECIES 223 THE GEE AT AUK. 



Alca impennis. Linn. 

 Pingouin brachyptere. Temm/ 



THIS rare auk, reminding us by its appearance of those stately- 

 looking penguins which frequent in such abundance the Ant- 

 arctic islands of America, is of the rarest occurrence in our 

 island, only two or three instances of its capture having been 

 noticed. Of considerable size, its power of progression is 

 limited alone to the water, the shortness of its wings rendering 

 it incapable of flight ; and from the backward position of the 



* Jardine. 



