At Mr. Bradshaw's, Wayland, with Ed Hoar I am surprised to see among the birds which Bradshaw has obtained the little auk of Nuttall (Mergulus alle, or common sea-dove), which he says that he shot in the fall on the pond of the Assabet at Knight's factory. There were two, and the other was killed with a paddle.
Nuttall says its appearance here is always solitary; driven here by stress of weather; that it has been seen in Fresh Pond, and Audubon found a few breeding in Labrador. Ross's party fed on them on the west coast of Greenland.
Peabody says: "In hardiness and power of enduring cold, no bird exceeds them . . . . In Newfoundland they are called the Ice-bird, from the presumption that, unless extreme cold were approaching, they would not come so far from home. Those that are found in this state are generally exhausted by their long flight; some have quietly submitted to be taken by the hand.”
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, July 25, 1860
... and the other was killed with a paddle. . . .See JJ Audubon (“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. 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. ")
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