446 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



LITTLE AUK. 



Mergulus alle (L. ). 



The Little Auk not only occurs irregularly all round our 

 coast-line, but penetrates into the very heart of Lakeland. The 

 Keswick Museum has a specimen captured among our mountains. 

 Dr. Gough occasionally met with specimens in Westmorland, 

 regarding one of which the following paragraph was furnished 

 by his pen to a local newspaper : ' One of these birds was 

 picked up on Thursday week in the neighbourhood of Helsington. 

 When first observed the poor wanderer was sitting surrounded 

 by a flock of poultry, and, on being approached, rose and flew 

 to a short distance. From its exhausted state, no difficulty 

 was experienced in effecting its capture alive. Variety of food 

 was offered to it in confinement, but the prisoner, not relishing 

 his change of habits, refused all sustenance, and died on the 

 ensuing day.' Two others were captured about the same time 

 in the neighbourhood of Coniston and Windermere. In a 

 draught of November 8th, 1841, T. C. Heysham states: 'The 

 Little Auk is a rare bird in Cumberland, and I have not seen 

 or heard of more than two or three specimens during the last 

 twelve or fourteen years. It is, however, a somewhat curious 

 coincidence that one should have been taken alive a few days 

 ago at no great distance from Ulles water Lake, which is up- 

 wards of twenty miles from any part of the coast.' The most 

 recent occurrences of the Little Auk in Lakeland include an 

 example captured near Appleby in January 1887; another 

 observed by Mr. Nicol near Skinburness during a very heavy 

 gale on November 16, 1888 (the first he ever saw); a third 

 picked up dead on Walney Island, November 1890 ; and a 

 fourth, a very beautiful adult in winter dress, picked up dead in 

 a field near Langwathby, January 3rd, 1890. All the local 

 specimens which I have seen preserved as rarities in the hands 

 of private individuals were in winter dress. It is possible that 

 a black-throated bird, existing in the collection at Belle Vue, 

 which formerly belonged to Bailey the birdstuffer, was obtained 

 locally. If such be the case, it is the only one that has been 

 obtained within this region in summer dress. 



