706 LITTLE AUK. 
while it is common on the west side of Novaya Zemlya, though 
not known directly to the eastward of the Kara Sea. In Greenland 
large colonies exist from lat. 68° northward nearly to 79°, beyond 
which Col. Feilden did not observe this species ; nor has it been 
recognised in the Arctic regions to the westward of Baffin Bay, or in 
Bering Sea, and the Pacific. In winter it ranges as far south as New 
Jersey, being well known to American fishermen as the “ Ice-bird,” 
from its partiality to the vicinity of bergs and floes; and even as 
early as August 15th 1884, the steamer, on which I was, passed 
through a flock in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where, at that time, 
there happened to be an unusual quantity of ice. 
The single egg is deposited in holes and tunnels under stones, so 
far in that the Arctic foxes cannot reach it, or else in cliffs up to 
2,000 feet above sea-level; it is of a pale greenish-blue colour, 
sometimes faintly spotted and scrolled with red: measurements 
19 by 1°25 in. Col. Feilden found nestlings just hatched on 
July 28th; and subsequently noticed that the parents had their 
cheeks distended with a reddish substance, consisting of immense 
numbers of minute crustaceans, which were evidently intended as 
food for the young. In autumn and winter the Little Auk feeds on 
animal offal, and is then fond of staying close to fishing-vessels at 
anchor ; while on the approach of a vessel it has a peculiar way of 
splashing along the surface of the water—as if unable to fly—and 
then diving through the crest of an advancing wave. As Mr. Abel 
Chapman has remarked, it swims rather deep, and very much “ by 
the stern.” 
The adult bas a small white spot over the eye; head and upper- 
parts greyish-black ; chin and throat sooty-black in summer, white 
in winter, and mottled with black and white in spring and autumn ; 
breast and belly white ; beak leaden-black ; irides hazel; legs and 
toes slate-colour, webs darker. Length 85 in., wing 4°65 in. The 
young bird resembles the adult in winter-plumage. White and 
isabelline varieties are sometimes met with. 
In the Southern Hemisphere there is a genus of small oceanic 
Petrels (Pelecancides), the members of which bear a strong super- 
ficial resemblance to the Little Auk in size, form, colour, and mode 
of flight ; but on closer examination, they may at once be recognised 
by their tubular nostrils. 
