128 
ali.en’s naturalist’s library. 
Adult in Winter Plumage. — Differs from the summer plumage 
in wanting the black on the throat; the lores, base of chin, and 
feathers round the eye black; the sides of the neck white, 
with an indistinct collar round the hind-neck ; the sides of the 
neck and the lower throat and fore-neck slightly mottled with 
blackish sub-terminal markings. 
Considerable variation takes place in the amount of white 
on the under wing-covcrls, which seems to be present in most 
winter-plumaged specimens, but is absent in some of them, 
and it is also absent in two summer-plumaged specimens 
examined by me. In the bird described, however, it is very 
strongly marked, and the white tips extend over all the 
marginal coverts on the outside of the wing underneath. 
Range in Great Britain. — A winter visitor to our shores, some- 
times occurring in great numbers, and often driven far inland by 
stress of weather. Specimens in summer plumage have also 
been observed, but up to the present date no authentic instance 
of the breeding of the species within British waters has been 
recorded. Mr. Howard Saunders states that he saw an old 
bird with its young one near the island of Pabbay in the 
Outer Hebrides on the 5th of August, 1886 ; and an adult was 
actually obtained off Monach Island, in the same group, on 
the 24th of June, 1893. In the winter of 1894-95 a great 
visitation of the species took place, and a large number of 
specimens were captured in various parts of (he British Islands. 
A paper on the occurrences in Scotland was iiublished by Mr. 
W. Eagle Clarke in the “ Annals of Scottish Natural History,” 
for April, 1895. 
Range outside the British Islands. — The I.ittle Auk breeds in 
Greenland in great numbers up to nearly 79° N. lat., as well 
as on Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya, Franz-Josef Land, and 
Northern Iceland. In winter it is found in the North Sea 
and Atlantic, and has been known to extend as far south as 
the Azores and the Canaries, while on the American side it 
has been procured off the New England coast in winter. 
Hahits.— Mr. Howard Saunders remarks; — “On the ap- 
proach of a vessel, this bird has a peculiar habit of splashing 
along the surface of the water — as if unable to fly — and then 
diving through the crest of an advancing wave. It swims 
