--- On Thu, 4/1/10, markthomascarter <markthomascar...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
From: markthomascarter <markthomascar...@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: [Ethnoornithology] Re: The Dovekie (Little Auk) or Alle alle and use
by humans
To: ethnoornithol...@yahoogroups.co.uk
Date: Thursday, April 1, 2010, 9:08 AM
Bob,
Auks- Now this topic really IS up my alley!
Brought up lots of memories...
Bit of background: I grew up on the island of Arran on the west coast of
Scotland and as an adult have lived and worked there and on the Isles of
Easdale and Jura, and I've spent a fair bit of time on the Isle of Lewis. These
island's cultures are surprisingly distinct so I'm not sure any of the info I
recall applies across the whole of the Hebrides. Seabirds in the past were a
huge part of the culture of the Hebrides and some remnants of this are still
around, although the ravages of plastic 21st century culture (and conservation
laws) have taken a huge toll so that many folk now out there now are pretty
alienated from the wildlife.
I've been a birder since I could hold binoculars so have been pretty attuned to
bird-related culture for a long time and recall a lot of fondness among people
for Auks (as Alcids are known in the UK). On Arran we used the word 'Dovekie'
for the Black Guillimot (Cepphus grylle) AND Little Auk when they appeared
(Little Auk don't breed in Scotland but are usually offshore in small numbers
in winter and frequently 'wreck' ashore after storms- in winter plumage they
just look like baby black guillimots). Unsurprisingly, whenever they are
differentiated from Black Gs they are commonly associated with bad winter
storms! Possibly due to the number of Scots emigrants to Canada/USA perhaps the
name Dovekie traveled and became more attached with the Little Auk there? Or
maybe I'm totally wrong and its really some elderly viking word? On some other
islands Black Guillimot are called Tystie, and I recall a neighbour of mine
calling them 'cave penguins'- they do nest
on ledges in tidal sea caves. Penguin incidentally is old Welsh for 'black
head' or 'black topped'- describes Auks well! These days Black Guillimot the
most easily encountered Auk because they readily nest in the gaps left when
stones fall out of old stone piers and sea walls- they become very tolerant of
boats and people.
Elderly folk on Easdale would talk of using snares at the entrance to nest
burrows to catch Puffin - another Auk- as kids in early summer before the
Mackerel shoals arrived on their late summer migrations. They used to nest on
small islands further offshore so puffin collecting would have been a fun
mission in a rowing boat on a calm summer sea. Puffin was very good eating
apparently but a combination of conservation laws making it illegal, human
overfishing undermining their foodbase and the explosion of American Minke
released from fur farms leading to the decimation of many near shore puffin
colonies, Puffin eating has died out. On Iceland and the Faroe Islands they
still enjoy eating Puffin I'm told. The nearest puffin colony to Easdale now is
over 40km away and was down to a handful of birds when I was there last (2004).
On Jura I was told a version of the story of the Cailleach (witch) of the
Corryvreckan whirlpools (between Jura and Scarba) which says that one of the
forms that she can appear in is as a Razorbill (Alca torda) out in the gulf.
This might overlap a bit with other stories about a Kelpie (a sort of
smooth-talking, shapeshifting sea monster) which lives there under the waters.
I have a faint memory of other folk stories about Razorbill along similar
lines to the stories about Harbour Seals (that they are lost children turned
into animal form by witchcraft) but I can't recall any details- sorry!
There also the a few stories about the Great Auk- an impressive flightless Auk
about the size of a big penguin which is sadly extinct now- most seemed to
rotate around the bird as an omen of doom. There is a good account of the
St.Kilda version in MacLean's book 'Island on the edge of the world'.
Weirdly, I don't recall any stories or even interest in the Common Guillimots
(Alca aalge) despite it being one of the most commonly seen birds when you are
out at sea in the Hebrides. Maybe it was too common?
My only experience of eating seabirds was eating baby Gannet on Lewis (not an
Auk but they often live in close association) . They call it Guga in Gàidhlig
and I recon its pretty fine food! Its very hard to find now- the authorities
only allow one boat to harvest a small number from one island. Even though the
birds have been been hunted annually there since the 9th century with no ill
effects there are many animal-rights obsessives posing as conservationists
demanding it end: if these urban jihadists get their way the hunt would be
stopped immediately. I recommend every ethno-ornithologist to go to Lewis in
August and demand to eat Guga- keep this tradition alive!
I'll stop there or else I'll end up doing a roundup of all my Scottish seabird
lore and I'll never get to bed!
Cheers
Mark Carter
--- In Ethnoornithology@ yahoogroups. co.uk, "Robert Gosford" <bgosf...@.. .>
wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> In the course of a separate discussion I received the following note
> from a friend in the USA in relation to a query I'd made about the
> Dovekie - which I'd been unfamiliar with prior to this conversation.
> I've highlighted the relevant parts:
>
> "Extraordinarily cute! They remind me of floating teapots. They are
> also abundant, but in places (high Arctic, open ocean) where most of us
> don't get very often, so that when storms blow them onto the N.
> American or European shores they are chased by listers. There's
> also lots of interesting ethnographic stories relating to these and
> other members of the alcid family. I understand that natives in
> Greenland cache (or used to) freshly killed Dovekies under rocks and
> retrieve them months later when mold has turned them into a sort of
> seabird cheese (somewhat like "thousand year old eggs" in
> China). The early European explorers in the southern oceans encountered
> birds that looked somewhat familiar and applied a word that had been
> used for alcids, thus "penguin." Anyone who lives in a
> hemisphere without alcids has my pity, but I have the misfortune to live
> in a hemisphere without penguins!"
>
> This was followed up by this further message after my enquiry:
>
> A quick look at handy references failed to reveal the source of my story
> about the ageing of stored Dovekie meat. I see mentions of a heavy
> harvest by natives in Greenland (and, I would expect in other places in
> the high Arctic), but not details on what happens to stored birds.
> Salomonsen's Birds of Greenland (one of the most beautiful bird books
> ever, in my opinion, and worth looking at if it is in a library near
> you) mentions that the natives wear coats that take about 50 dovekie
> skins to prepare, and that these coats must be replaced annually.
>
> I'll keep looking to see if I can find a source for the ageing meat
> story, which I remember hearing or reading maybe 20 years ago (I hope
> that I remember correctly--not always the case!).
>
> Anyone have any further thoughts, is aware of any research on Dovekies
> or other Alcids and use by humans or anything further re this apparently
> fascinating relationship?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bob Gosford
>
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