MERGULUS MELANOLEUCOS. 



(The Little Auk.) 



Capt. M'Clintock, R.N., says, in the ' Voyage of the Fox' (1859), p. 139 : 

 — " The Little Auk lays its single egg upon the bare rock, far within the cre- 

 vice, beyond the reach of Fox, Owl, or Burgomaster Gull. We shot a couple 

 of hundred during our stay on shore, and, by removing the stones, gathered 

 several dozen of the eggs." This was July 2, 1858. Again, "steep slopes 

 of rocky debris, which screen the bases of the most precipitous cliffs, form 

 secure nurseries for the Little Auk : they popped in and out of every crevice, 

 and sat in dozens on every large rock. I saw countless myriads." This was 

 in Melville Bay, Baffin's Bay. On the west side of Baffin's Bay they are 

 very rare visitors. 



Harting, in the 'Polar World' (p. 126), states that Beechey saw a 

 flock of Little Auks three miles in length. Thirty fell at a shot. He esti- 

 mated their numbers at 4,000,000. When they took flight they darkened 

 the air ; at the distance of four miles their chorus could be distinctly heard. 



James Lamont mentions, in ' Seasons with the Sea-Horses ' (p. 93), " I 

 saw, on an island near Spitzbergen, the singular appearance called 'red 

 snow.' This is caused by the colouring-matter of millions of Little Auks. 

 These birds feed upon shrimps entirely." What they void is red. " It may 

 be that minute reddish fungi afterwards grow on the droppings ; but I totally 

 disbelieve in fungi growing on the snow per se, as some distinguished observers 

 have remarked." The " Old Bushman," in his ' Lapland ' (p. 373), names a 

 species of alga (^Protococcus nivalis, Grev.) as its origin. 



A/em.— December 11, 1861. I saw a white specimen of the Little Auk in 

 the British Museum. 



