CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 203 



It is not nearly so abundant as the Guillemot, and 

 its numbers are apparently on the decline. The 

 cause for this it is difficult to assign, and opinions 

 are various. Mr. W. H. Hudson says, "Whether 

 killed by an epidemic to which they are liable, or 

 starved to death as some naturalists think, it is 

 certain that they perish in large numbers. On the 

 south coast I have seen their dead bodies washed 

 up by the waves during a severe gale, lying in 

 hundreds on the beach," etc., etc. 



The Razor Bills associate at their breeding^- 

 stations with Guillemots and Puffins, and being of the 

 same family the birds get on very well together. In 

 regard to locality, too, that is much the same, there 

 being large colonies of these birds on some of the 

 western islands of Scotland. No doubt, too, they 

 would be found to be in evidence on the British coast 

 wherever stacks and cliffs abound. The Razor Bill 

 lays only one egg, which it does not place in such an 

 exposed place as the Guillemot, but more often in a 

 cleft in the rock, or in a hollow on a rocky ledge. 

 In regard to colour, I should say there is great 

 variation, but the ground-colour is generally white 

 or pale brown, and blotched with various shades of 

 reddish-brown or black. 



The specimens in the case are posed in a some- 

 what similar manner to what you would see them 

 ranged along the ledges of a cliff, the whole idea 

 being to show how they cluster together. 



I obtained the birds while staying at Salen Hotel. 

 I sometimes used to g^o out sailing- amongst the 



02 



