382 



THE LITTLE AUK, OR SEA DOVE. 



ceremonies, and the persons are supposed to be always attended with, 

 good fortune, so long as they retain them there. 



THE LITTLE AUK, OR SEA DOVE. 



This neat and singular little bird, with a quaint resemblance to the 

 Colombine tribe, is known to mariners by the name of the Greenland 

 Dove; and in this vicinity it is also called the Pigeon Diver. It in- 

 habits, however, a region where the gentle cooing of the Dove is never 

 heard. It dwells far within the Arctic circle, approaching the very 

 pole, having been obtained by Dr. Richardson from the dreary coast of 

 Melville I^and, in the latitude 01 /5 D and 76, in August, where they 

 were seen by thousands. It is probably almost the last bird seen within 

 the desolate and glacial boundaries of the earth. In Greenland 

 and Spitzbergen they congregate in great flocks; and in the depth of 

 winter, watching the motion of the ice in the offing, when it is 

 roken up by storms, they crowd by thousands into every opening, 

 fissure or flaw, in 

 order to snatch up the 

 marine productions on 

 which they subsist. 

 Mr. Audubon found 

 a few breeding on the 

 coast of Labrador. In 

 Newfoundland they 

 are called the Ice- Bird, 

 being the sure har- 

 Dingers of severe 

 weather, as they 

 seldom proceed far 

 from their inclement 

 natal regions, except 

 when accidentally 

 driven to shore by 

 stoims. In the United 

 States their appearance 

 is always solitary, 

 being mere wanderers, as they are also along the miller coasts of 

 Europe. Their uniform predilection is for the hyperboreal regions 

 of their nativity, and they even fatten in storms when not over- 

 whelmed by their fury; as, at these times the small Crustacea, and 

 marine insects on which they feed are cast up and brought to the 

 surface in great abundance. At times they appear to fly well, as 

 appears by their extensive accidental migrations, having sometimes- 

 been met with considerably inland. The water, however, being their 

 more natural element, they dive with great facility, and are often 

 observed dipping their bills into the water as if drinking. 



Those which have been obtained in the vicinity of Boston, usually 

 in the depth of winter, have sometimes been found in Fresh Pond 



