Bill dull yellow, slightly tinged with green, dusky along the ridge. Iris brown. Feet dull yellow, claws dusky, webs dull grey. Head and upper part of the neck deep glossy green; but there is an elongated patch of pale reddish-yellow, extending from the base of the bill over the cheek to two inches and a quarter behind the eye, and meeting that of the other side on the chin; the space immediately over and behind the eye light dull purple. A narrow ring of pale yellowish-red on the middle of the neck; the lower part of the neck dull brownish-red, the feathers with a transverse band of dusky, and edged with paler. The upper parts are dull greyish-brown, transversely undulated with dusky; the smaller wing-coverts without undulations, but each feather with a dusky bar behind another of light dull yellow; first row of smaller coverts tipped with black; primaries and their coverts, light brownish-grey; some of the outer secondaries similar, the next five or six duck-green, the next light grey with a dusky patch toward the end. The rump and upper tail-coverts black, as are the parts under the tail, excepting two longitudinal white bands; tail-feathers light brownish-grey, edged with whitish. All the rest of the lower parts are greyish-white tinged with yellow, beautifully undulated with dusky lines, on the middle of the breast these lines less numerous, and each feather with a reddish-grey central streak.
Length to end of tail 23 inches, to end of claws 24; extent of wings 39; bill along the ridge 2 1/2, along the edge of lower mandible 2 1/8; tarsus 1 1/8, middle toe 2, its claw 5/12; hind toe 3/8, its claw 1/8. Weight 2 lb. 9 oz.
I have named this Duck after my friend Thomas M. Brewer of Boston, as a mark of the estimation in which I hold him as an accomplished ornithologist.
LITTLE GUILLEMOT.
Uria Alle, Temm.
PLATE CCCXXXIX. Male and Female.
This interesting little bird sometimes makes its appearance on our eastern coasts during very cold and stormy weather. It does not proceed much farther southward than the shores of New Jersey, where it is of very rare occurrence. Now and then some are caught in a state of exhaustion, as I have known to be the case especially in Passamaquody Bay near Eastport in Maine, and in the vicinity of Boston and Salem in Massachusetts.
In the course of my voyages across the Atlantic, I have often observed the Little Guillemots in small groups, rising and flying to short distances at the approach of the ship, or diving close to the bow and reappearing a little way behind. Now with expanded wings they would flutter and run as it were on the surface of the deep; again, they would seem to be busily engaged in procuring food, which consisted apparently of shrimps, other crustacea, and particles of sea-weeds, all of which I have found in their stomach. I have often thought how easy it would be to catch these tiny wanderers of the ocean with nets thrown expertly from the bow of a boat, for they manifest very little apprehension of danger from the proximity of one, insomuch that I have seen several killed with the oars. Those which were caught alive and placed on the deck, would at first rest a few minutes with their bodies flat, then rise upright and run about briskly, or attempt to fly off, which they sometimes accomplished, when they happened to go in a straight course the whole length of the ship so as to rise easily over the bulwarks. On effecting their escape they would alight on the water and immediately disappear.
During my visit to Labrador and Newfoundland I met with none of these birds, although the cod-fishers assured me that they frequently breed there. I am informed by Dr Townsend that this species is found near the mouth of the Columbia River.
Alca alle, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 211.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 795.
Little Auk, Alca alle, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. ix. p. 94, pl. 74, fig. 5.