918 
U. S. P. R, E. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 
Above cinereous, undulated, and somewhat spotted with blackish and pale yellowish brown. Beneath white, faintly tinged 
with brownish, and undulated on the breast with black ; wings ashy and brownish black. Bill very short, about one-third the 
jength of the head ; tarsus shorter than the middle toe. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, 9 inches. Inhabits 
Kamtschatka. 
MERGULUS, Ray. 
Mergulus, Rat, Synopsis Avium, 1713, 125. 
Ch. — Small ; general form short and heavy, head rather large. Bill short, thick ; upper mandible curved, slightly lobed on its 
edge ; membrane of the rounded nostril large ; wings moderate or rather short, pointed ; first quill longest ; tail short ; feet 
lather short. 
MERGULUS ALLE, Linnaeus. 
The Little Auk; The Sea Dove; Dovekie. 
Mca alle, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 211. 
Mergulus alle, Vieillot, " Anal, 1*16."- Ib. Galerio, II, 1825, 237.— Aud. Syn. 347. 
Una alle, Temminck, Man. II, 928.— Bon. Obs. Wils. 1826, No. 238.— Aud. Orn. Bor. IV, 1838, 304 ; pi. 339. 
Mergulus mclanoleucus, Rat, Syn. Av. p. 125. 
Mca Candida, Brunn. Orn. Bor. 1764, 26. 
Mca alee, Gmelin, Syst. Nat I, 1788, 354. 
Figures.— Edwards, Birds, II, pi. 91.— Bltffon, PI. Enl. 917.— Vieillot, Gal. II, pi. 295.— Wilson, Am. Orn. IX, pi. 74, 
fig. 5.— Aud. B. of Am. pi. 339, oct. ed. VII, pi. 469.— Gould, B. of Eur. IV, pi. 402.— Naumann, B. of Germ. pi. 334. 
Sp. Ch. — Small ; head, breast, and entire upper parts brownish black, inclining to fuliginous on the head and breast; under 
parts from the breast white. A narrow line of white over the eye ; secondaries tipped with white ; scapulars edged with white ; 
under wing coverts dark ashy ; flanks with longitudinal stripes of brownish black ; bill black ; feet pale reddish ; webs of toes 
dark. "Winter plumage and young with the tliroat (and other under parts) white, extending somewhat on the sides of the neck. 
Total length about Ik inches ; wing, Ah ; tail, 1± inch. 
Nab. — Northeastern coast of America ; northern Europe; New Jersey, (Mus. Acad. Philad.;) Nova Scotia, (Nat. Mus. 
Washington.) 
One of the most abundant of the sea birds of northern America and Europe, straying south 
in the winter occasionally to the coasts of the Middle States. We have never seen it from the 
northern Pacific, though it appears to be an inhabitant of the entire Arctic circle. 
List of specimens. 
Locality. 
Whence obtained. 
Nature of specimen 
Halifax, N. S 
J. K. Willis 
