RAZOR-BILLED AUK. 39 



next report cjinie from Toronto, where ;i])out thirty were kiUed, and 

 Hiiiilly, caily in December, ] ol)taiiie(l three which were found on 

 Hamilton Bay so much reduced and exhausted for lack of proper 

 food, that they were taken alive by the hand. I believe that about 

 tifty were captured altogether. This is the only occasion on which 

 1 luive heard of these bii'ds appearing in Ontario, except tlie one 

 mentioned at the bemnning of this notice. 



Genus ALCA Lixx^eus. 

 ALCA TORDA (Lixn.). 



11. Razor-billed Auk. (32) 



Adult, in summer: — Upper parts, black, glossed with green; head and neck, 

 brownish-black, without gloss ; tips of the secondaries and all the lower parts, 

 white ; a white line from the eye to the base of the culmen ; feet, black ; mouth, 

 yellow: eye, bluish. Length, about 18 inches; wing, about 7.75. 



In winter, the white covers the throat and encroaches on the sides of the 

 heail. 



H.VB. — Coasts and islands of nf)rth Atlantic. South in winter, along the 

 coast to New England. 



Nest, none. 



Eggs, one or two, deposited in caverns or deep fissures of the rocks ; creamy- 

 white, spotted and blotched with black toward the larger end. 



The first notice we have of the occurrence of this species in 

 Ontario is in the published proceedings of the Canadian Institute, 

 where Mr. Wm. Cross reports the capture of a specimen in Toronto 

 Bay, on the 10th December, 1889. 



A second specimen was shot off the beach at the west end of Lake 

 Ontario, in November, 1891. This was afterwards mounted, and 

 is now in possession of Captain Armstrong, who resides near the 

 Hamilton reservoir. 



This species keeps close to the sea coast. It has not been observed 

 at Ottawa, and is not namerl among the 1)irds found by Dr. Bell at 

 Hudson's Bay. 



We can only account for the preseiice of these isolated individuals 

 in Lake Ontario by sup])Osing that they have been driven from their 

 usual habitat by an easterh' blow\ 



