Little Auk
Alle alle polaris Stenhouse, 1930 (0, 1)
Photo © By Alastair Rae from London, UK - Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1281513
Sub-species
STATUS
Franz Joseph Land to St. Lawrence Island. Monotypic.
OVERVIEW
A review by C. J. McInerny & R. Y. McGowan (2018) in Scottish Birds 38: 297-303, found these two records, and another in 1990, as the only acceptable records that had wing-lengths within the criteria for polaris. Since then, however, the 1954 record has been found unacceptable.
1950-57 RECORD
1). 1956 Shetland Lerwick, Mainland, adult female, 19th January, now at Bolton Museum (Acc. no. INV:19160).
(A. Hazelwood & E. Gorton, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 76: 107; BOURC (1991), Ibis 133: 439; BOURC (2018), Ibis 160: 941; C. J. McInerny & R. Y. McGowan, Scottish Birds 38: 297-303; BOURC (2019), Ibis 162: 264).
History A. Hazelwood & E. Gorton (1956) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. LXXVI. p. 107, says: 'Among a series of Plautus alle (L.) picked up dead from the shores of Shetland and now in the Bolton Museum, there are two whose wing length is considerably in excess of the others. Both are females with measurements as follows:
1. Lerwick, Shetland, 5-1-1954, wing (worn) 132 mm., bill 15 mm (this bird apparently first winter).
2. Lerwick, Shetland 19-1-1956, wing 135 mm., bill 15.5 mm.
The bills of both are more massive in appearance than in other examples and it seems reasonable to assign them to P. a. polaris (Stenhouse) hitherto unrecorded from Great Britain.
We are indebted to Mr. S. Bruce and Mrs. L. Gray of Lerwick for their kindness in sending us 'wrecked ' specimens of this species from time to time.'
NOT PROVEN
0). 1912 Upper Forth Firth of Forth, 21st January.
(BOURC (1991), Ibis 133: 439).
[A. G. Knox, Ibis 135: 320-325; BOURC (1993), Ibis 135: 494].
History Meinertzhagen specimen now in the Natural History Museum (Ibis 133: 439), but no longer acceptable (Ibis 135: 495).
Comment All Meinertzhagen records for Britain have been rejected due to his unreliability (BOURC (2013), Ibis 135: 494).
0). 1954 Shetland Lerwick, Mainland, 2CY female, 5th January, now at Bolton Museum.
(A. Hazelwood & E. Gorton, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 76: 107; BOURC (1991), Ibis 133: 439; R. D. Murray, Scottish Bird Report 1993: 66; BOURC (1993), Ibis 135: 493-499; C. J. McInerny & R. Y. McGowan, Scottish Birds 38: 297-303).
[C. Holt, P. French and the Rarities Committee, British Birds 112: 587].
History A. Hazelwood & E. Gorton (1956) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. LXXVI. p. 107, says: 'Among a series of Plautus alle (L.) picked up dead from the shores of Shetland and now in the Bolton Museum, there are two whose wing length is considerably in excess of the others. Both are females with measurements as follows:
1. Lerwick, Shetland, 5-1-1954, wing (worn) 132 mm., bill 15 mm (this bird apparently first winter).
2. Lerwick, Shetland 19-1-1956, wing 135 mm., bill 15.5 mm.
The bills of both are more massive in appearance than in other examples and it seems reasonable to assign them to P. a. polaris (Stenhouse) hitherto unrecorded from Great Britain.
We are indebted to Mr. S. Bruce and Mrs. L. Gray of Lerwick for their kindness in sending us 'wrecked' specimens of this species from time to time.'
Comment Not accepted nationally (C. Holt, P. French and the Rarities Committee, British Birds 112: 587).
