Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0077/00774.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 13KB | 210 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00774}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Common Sea-dove.--Little Guillemot}
$Subject{Alcinae; Mergulus; Alle; alle; Common Sea-dove; Little Guillemot;
Dovekie}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume VII}
$Volume{Vol. 7:257-262}
$Family{Alcinae}
$Genus{Mergulus; Alle}
$Species{alle}
$Common_Name{Common Sea-dove; Little Guillemot; Dovekie}
$Log{
Plate CCCCLXIX*00774P1.scf
Family*00762.txt
Genus*00773.txt
Figures 1-3*0077401.scf}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                   VOL.  VII.
                        --------------------------------


                      COMMON SEA-DOVE.--LITTLE GUILLEMOT.
                                   [Dovekie.]


                              MERGULUS ALLE, Linn.
                                  [Alle alle.]


                       PLATE CCCCLXIX.--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 re-appearing 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 codfishers assured me that they frequently breed there.  I
am informed by Mr. TOWNSEND that this species is found near the mouth of the
Columbia river.


     LITTLE AUK, Alca Alle, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ix. p. 94.
     URIA ALLE, Bonap. Syn., p. 425.
     LITTLE GUILLEMOT, Uria Alle, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii.
       p. 479.
     LITTLE AUK or SEA-DOVE, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 531.
     LITTLE GUILLEMOT, Uria Alle, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 304.


     Male, 7 1/8, 14 1/4.
     Rare and only during winter along the coast of the United State, from New
York to Maine.  More abundant along the coast of Nova Scotia, and far at sea.
Breeds on the Arctic coasts.
     Adult Male in summer.
     Bill shorter than the head, stout, straightish, sub-pentagonal at the base,
compressed towards the end.  Upper mandible with the dorsal line
convexo-declinate, the ridge convex, the sides sloping, the edges sharp and
overlapping, the tip rather obtuse.  Nasal depression short and broad; nostrils
basal, oblong, with a horny operculum.  Lower mandible with the angle long and
wide, the dorsal outline very short, ascending and straight, the sides convex,
toward the end ascending and flattened, the edges thin and inclinate, the tip
acute, with a sinus behind.
     Body full and compact; neck short and thick; head large, ovate.  Feet
short, rather stout; tibia bare for two-twelfths of an inch; tarsus very short,
compressed, covered anteriorly with oblique scutella, behind with angular
scales; hind toe wanting; anterior toes connected by reticulated webs, the inner
much shorter than the outer, which is almost as long as the middle; the scutella
numerous.  Claws rather small, moderately arched, compressed, rather acute, that
of the middle toe having its inner edge considerably expanded.
     Plumage dense, blended, glossy.  Wings of moderate length, narrow, pointed;
primaries pointed, the first longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries
rounded.  Tail very short, slightly rounded, of twelve feathers.
     Bill black.  Iris dark hazel.  Feet pale flesh-coloured; webs dusky; claws
black.  Inside of mouth light yellow.  The head, upper part of neck, and all the
upper surface, glossy bluish-black.  A small spot on the upper eyelid, another
on the lower, several longitudinal streaks on the scapulars, and a bar along the
tips of the secondary quills, white.  The lower parts white; the feathers on the
sides under the wings have the outer webs white, the inner dusky; lower
wing-coverts blackish-grey.
     Length to end of tail 7 1/8 inches, to end of claws 7 7/8, to end of wings
6 7/8, to carpal joint 2 7/8; extent of wings 14 1/4; wing from flexure 4 7/8;
bill along the ridge (4 1/4)/8, along the edge of lower mandible 1; tarsus 3/4;
middle toe 1, its claw 1/4; outer toe 1, claw (1 1/2)/8; inner toe 5/8, its claw
(1 1/2)/8.  Weight 8 1/2 oz.
     Adult Female in winter.
     In winter, the throat and the lower parts of the cheeks are white; the
sides and fore part of the neck white, irregularly barred with blackish-grey;
the upper parts of a duller black than in summer.
     There is nothing very remarkable in the anatomy of this bird, beyond what
is observed in the Auks and Guillemots.  The ribs extend very far back, and,
having the dorsal and sternal portions much elongated, are capable of aiding in
giving much enlargement to the body, of which the internal, or thoracic and
abdominal cells are very large.  The sub-cutaneous cells are also largely
developed, as in many other diving and plunging birds.
     The roof of the mouth is flat, broad, and covered with numerous series of
short horny papillae directed backwards.  The tongue is large, fleshy, 10
twelfths of an inch long, emarginate at the base, flat above, horny on the back.
The heart is large, measuring 10 twelfths in length, 8 1/2 twelfths in breadth.
The right lobe of the liver is 1 3/12 inches in length, the left 1 1/12; the
gall-bladder is elliptical.  The kidneys are very large.
     The oesophagus, Fig. 1, [a b c], is 3 inches 10 twelfths long, its walls
very thin, its inner or mucous coat thrown into longitudinal plates; its
diameter at the middle of the neck 5 eighths, diminishing to 4 twelfths as it
enters the thorax.  It then enlarges and forms the proventriculus, [c e], which
has a diameter of 8 twelfths; the glandules are cylindrical, very numerous, and
arranged in a complete belt, half an inch in breadth, in the usual manner, as
seen in Fig. 2, [b c].  The stomach, properly so called, Fig. 1, [d g], is
oblong, 11 twelfths in length, 8 twelfths in breadth; its muscular coat
moderately thick, and disposed into two lateral muscles with large tendons; its
epithelium, Fig. 2, [c d e], thick, hard, with numerous longitudinal and
transverse rugae, and of a dark reddish colour.  The duodenum, [f g h], curves
in the usual manner at the distance of 1 1/4 inches, ascends toward the upper
surface of the right lobe of the liver for 1 inch and 10 twelfths, then forms 4
loops, and from above the proventriculus passes directly backward.  The length
of the intestine, [f g h i], is 16 1/2 inches, its diameter 2 1/4 twelfths, and
nearly uniform as far as the rectum, which is 1 1/4 inches long, at first 3
twelfth