THE PARROQUET AUK THE RAZOR-BILL AUK. 



o5. 



and so leaa ani exhausted, by buffeting weather and fatigue, as to 

 allow themsalves to be quietly taken up by the hand. 



THE PARROQUET AUK. 



This bird is about the size of a blackbird. The bill ia much com- 

 pressed, and convex both above and beneath. The nostrils are 

 placed in the middle of it, and pervious, and above these there ia a 

 furrow that reaches from the base to the middle. The color of th^ 

 bill is deep red. From the hinder part of the eye springs a slendei 

 tuft of white feathers, which hangs loosely on the neck. The upper 

 parts of the plumage, and the neck, are black ; and the under parts, 

 from the breast, white. The wings are short. The legs are of a 

 dirty yellow, and the webs of the feet brown. 



This species of Auk is found in flocks in Kamtschatka, in the islet 

 towards Japan, and on the western shores of America. In the nighta 

 they harbour in the crevices of rocks. Like most of tlie tribe, they 

 are indolent and stupid birds, as the following extraordinary method 



of catching them suffi- 

 ciently proves : One ol 

 the natives places him- 

 t^elf in the evening 

 among the rocks, 

 under a loose garment 

 of fur, of a particular 



shape, with large open 



^ sleeves, when the 

 '"^ birds, returning to 

 ^ their lodging-places at 

 % dusk, run under the 

 ; skirts and up the arm- 

 holes, in order to shelter 

 themselves during tha 

 night; the man con- 

 cealed beneath, kilh 

 them as fast as the]? 

 enter, and, by thii 

 means, 9S> many are 

 often taken in out 



PARRlX^UET AUK. 



evening as he can carry away. Their stupidity likewise occasions 

 them very often to fly on board ships at such times, mistaking thefae 

 or roosting places: by which navigators have sometimes been taught 

 to avoid the danger of approaching too near the land, either in the 

 evenings, or on the approach of storms. 



THE ItAZOR-BILL AUK. 



The Razor-bill Auk abounds among the cliffs of England. It lays, 

 sits, and breeds up its young, on tlie ledges of the craggy cliffs and 

 steep rocks by the seashore. On the coast of Labrador they abound, 



