What is "little auk"

Rotche \Rotche\, n. (Zo["o]l.) A very small arctic sea bird ( Mergulus alle, or Alle alle) common on both coasts of the Atlantic in winter; -- called also little auk, dovekie, rotch, rotchie, and sea dove.

n. A dovekie, a bird of the species ''Alle alle''.

n. small short-billed auk abundant in arctic regions [syn: dovekie, Plautus alle]

The little auk or dovekie (Alle alle) is a small auk, the only member of the genus Alle. Alle is the Sami name of the long-tailed duck; it is onomatopoeic and imitates the call of the drake duck. Linnaeus was not particularly familiar with the winter plumages of either the auk or the duck, and appears to have confused the two species.

It breeds on islands in the high Arctic. There are two subspecies: A. a. alle breeds in Greenland, Iceland, Novaya Zemlya and Spitzbergen, and A. a. polaris on Franz Josef Land.