LITTLE AUK. 
43 
NATATORES. 
alcadje. 
PLATE CCLXXXII. 
LITTLE AUK. 
MERGULUS MELANOLEUCOS. 
The Little Auk or Rotche, as it is called by the 
northern navigators, is a winter visitant in Great Britain, 
occurring more or less frequently according as the weather 
happens to be more or less stormy. In the northern seas 
this little black and white bird abounds in the highest 
latitudes that have been visited by enterprising travellers 
in search of the north-west passage, with the exception 
of some longitudinal degrees between the western coast of 
America, and eastern coast of Asia. 
In Spitzbergen it is common, but unknown on the 
coast of Lapland; it is rare on the Norwegian coast; on 
the eastern and western coast of Greenland it is in great 
numbers, but only a winter visitant on the southern. 
Also on the northern coast of Iceland, the Little Auk 
is numerous during the summer months, while it only 
