RAZOR-BILL. 547 



RAZOR-BILL. 



(Mca torda, Linn. Gmel. Syst. i. p. 551. sp. 1. Lath. Ind. ii.2. sp.5. 

 BoNAP. Synops. p. 431. No. 381. Temm. Man. d Orn. ii. p 936. 

 Le Pingouin, Buff. Ois. ix. p. 390. t. 27. Id. PL Enlum. 1003. 

 [summer dress], and 1004. [winter plumage]. Razor-Bill Auk, 

 Penn. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 425. Edwards, Glean, tab. 358. fig. 2. 

 ^Ica pica, Gmel. i. sp. 2. A. minor, Briss. vi. p. 92. t. 8. fig. 2. 

 [young male], ^ilca unisulcata, Brunn. Orn. Boreal, p. 23. No. 

 102. Black-Billed Auk, Lath. Syn. vi. p. 320. Penn. Arct. 

 Zool. ii. No. 426. Ib. Brit. Zool. p. 137. t. H. 1. [young after the 

 first moult]. Jl. haltkica, Brunn. Orn. Boreal, p. 25. sp. 101. 

 [winter dress].) 



Sp. Charact. — Black, beneath white; wings capable of flight, 

 when folded extending to the rump ; tail moderate, wedge-shaped, 



composed of 12 feathers. idult, the bill with 3 or 4 lateral 



grooves. Summer pluviage, with the whole head black ; a white 

 line from the bill to the eye. In the young the bill is even. 



The Razor-Bill, is another of those gregarious marine 

 birds which dwell amidst the wildest scenes of nature, and 

 penetrate into the most dreary hyperboreal climates through- 

 out the whole of the northern hemisphere. They abound 

 in the north of Europe, as far as Iceland and Greenland. 

 And in America swarm on the bleak and barren coasts of 

 Labrador. From the White Sea they extend their colonies 

 along the Arctic Asiatic shores, to Kamtschatka and the 

 gulpli of Ochotsk. They also penetrate into the interior of 

 the Baltic. In the winter season, the young, migrate into 

 the Mediterranean, being seen along the coast of Candia 

 and Crete, and are very common in the Bay of Gibraltar. 

 They also visit the coasts of France and Holland at the 

 same season. Small groups of from 10 to 12 proceed along 

 the coasts of the United States as far as Ncav York ;* in 



* AuDUBOir, in lit. 



