ORDER PYGOPODES
FAMILY ALCIDÆ
THE RAZOR-BILL
ALCA TORDA
Wings reaching to the origin of the tail; head and upper parts black; a band across the wing; an interrupted line from the eye to the base of the bill, and all the under parts white; bill black, with three or four furrows, of which the middle one is white; irides hazel; legs dusky. In summer the line from the eye to the bill is pure white, and the whole of the throat and neck is black, tinged with red. Length seventeen inches. Eggs white, blotched and spotted with two shades of brown.
In general habits, the Razor-bill closely resembles the Guillemot and Puffin. Indeed, in some parts of the coast, the Razor-bill is called a Puffin, and the latter a Sea Parrot; and in Cornwall both Guillemots and Razor-bills are known by the common name of Murre. At a distance the birds can only be distinguished by a practised eye; but on a close inspection they cannot be possibly confounded.
Razor-bills are common on many parts of our coast during the later summer months. They are more frequently seen swimming than flying, and if pursued by a boat are little disposed to take alarm until they are approached to within twenty or thirty yards, when they dive, but soon reappear not very far off. If two birds be in company and one be killed by a shot from a gun, its companion, instead of taking measures to insure its own safety, seems to lose the power of self-preservation. It paddles round its companion as if unable to comprehend the reason why it neither dives nor flies, and if pursued suffers itself to be overtaken and knocked down by an oar. This sympathetic feeling is not confined to birds which have paired, or to members of the same family; for in an instance which came under my own notice, both birds were only a few months old, and, as the Razor-bill lays but one egg, the birds could not possibly have grown up together. Towards winter, Razor-bills migrate southwards, either to avoid cold or to find waters where their prey swims nearer to the surface than in our climate. In spring they return northwards, and repair, like Puffins, to places of habitual resort for the purpose of breeding. At this season, also, they are eminently social, laying each an egg in close proximity on a ledge in the rocks, lower down than the Puffins, but above the Guillemots, all of which birds flock to the same portion of coast, often in countless multitudes. The egg differs from that of the Guillemot not only in colour but in shape, being less decidedly pear-shaped. It is much sought after as an article of food, and is said to be very palatable.
The 'Auk' of Arctic voyagers is this bird. The Razor-bill is one of the best known of the Auk family, or Alcidæ, although less plentiful than the Guillemot or the Puffin.
THE COMMON GUILLEMOT
ÚRIA TRÓILE
Bill much compressed, longer than the head, greyish black; upper plumage brownish black; the secondaries tipped with white; a whitish patch behind the eye on each side; under plumage white; feet dusky; iris brown. Length nearly eighteen inches. Eggs greenish or bluish, blotched and streaked with black.