CATA1.0GUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 2/ 



abundance. It occurs at Kadiak and along the adjacent coasts 

 from Sitka to the peninsula of Alaska. Common around the 

 Pribilof islands and the other islands in Bering sea, and in 

 Norton sound ; it breeds in small numbers in Chamisso inlet and 

 Kotzebue sound and on the cliffs near Cape Lisburne. {i\elso?i.) 

 Extremely abundant at Bogoslov where they breed in millions, 

 and throughout the Aleutian islands. {Turner.) Only reaches 

 Point Barrow as a rare straggler. {Murdoch.) 



Breeding Notes. — This bird lays its single egg upon the points 

 and narrow shelves on the faces of the cliff fronts of the Pribilof 

 islands, straddling over the eggs side by side, as thickly as they 

 can crowd, making no nests. Its curious straddling by which the 

 egg is warmed and hatched lasts "nearly twenty-eight days and 

 then the young comes out with a dark, thick coat of down, which is 

 supplanted by the plumage and colour of the old bird, in less than 

 six weeks. {Elliott.) See Palmer, " The Birds of the Pribilof 

 Islands " for full account of this bird. 



At Egg island, about ten miles from the entrance of St. 

 Michael harbour many of these birds breed every year' on the 

 bluffs and ledges. The egg is laid on the bare rock without any 

 pretence of a nest. Only one egg is laid in a season if undis- 

 turbed, but will be renewed if the season is not too far advanced. 

 The egg is very large, having a bluish-green ground with dark- 

 brown mottlings of variable outline. {Turner.) 



XV. ALCA Linn^.us. 1758. 



32. Razor-billed Auk. 



Alca torda Linn. 1758. 



Occurs occasionally near Point Lepreaux and Partridge island ; 

 also common near the Grand Manan, N. B. {Chamberlain) Not 

 very common in Nova Scotia in winter. {Doztms.) Common 

 throughout the summer and autumn along the Newfoundland 

 shores. {Keeks.) Not observed in Hudson strait ; abundant and 

 breeding on the eastern and southern shores of Labrador. 

 {Packard.) Abundant on the northeastern coast of Labrador. 

 Bigelo:. ' Not rare in west Greenland, but unknown in eas 

 Greenland. {Arct. Mav.) Breeds, but not in large numbers, on 



