A Vagrant Auk
In a charming narrow valley in North Devon, known to me as a nesting haunt of both raven and buzzard, there was picked up the other day the body of a little auk. The great auk is an extinct species. The little auk is a common bird in the Far North, where it breeds ; but rare in Great Britain. All the considerable winter immigrations that have been recorded at wide intervals have been due to stress of weather when casualties have been heavy. The appearance of this single 'bird in North Devon is odd for several reasons. The weather had not been severe, and as a rule auks do not visit the West Coast of this island even towards the North, much less in the South. However, as a migrant, the bird is singularly irregular, both in numbers and. in destination. It may travel as far South as Gibraltar and the Mediterranean. The tribe of auks includes, of course, the razor-bills and guillemots, from which it differs greatly in the shortness of the beak.
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