lO 



Bnlish Birds. 



Buffon's Skua. 



THE AUKS. 



Siih-Order 



ALCM. 



THE 

 RAZOR-BILL. 



{AIca tarda:) 



whereas all the primaries of 

 S. crepidatiis are white-shafted. 

 Buffon"s Skua breeds in the 

 Arctic Regions of both Hemi- 

 spheres, and mij;rates south- 

 ward in winter, when it occurs 

 at inter\'als on the coasts of 

 Britain. The habits, as well 

 as the nest and eggs, do not 

 seem to \arv from those of 

 the preceding species. The 

 e^'fi's measure about two inches in length. 



The Auks are inhabitants of the northern portions of the Old 

 and New Worlds, but although very similar to the Gulls as 

 regards their anatomv and osteolog^■, they are quite different 

 in external app"?arance, as well as in their method of nidification. 



This species is at 

 once told b\- the white 

 groove which ornaments 

 its bill, and bv its exposed 

 nostrils. The general plumage is black in 

 summer, and the throat is black with the 

 rest of the under surface of the boclv white, 

 as well as the tips of the sec<indary-quills 

 and a small streak across tlie lores to the 

 eve. In winter, the throat and sides of the 

 face become white like the breast, and there 

 is a line of black above the e.ir-co\erts, while 

 the bill still retains the white grooves. In 

 the young birds, however, these are not seen 

 in winter. The Ivazor-pjil! is an inhabitant of the rocky coasts of Xorthein h^urope 

 and the Atlantic side of North America. It nests in suitable places throughout 

 Britain, but is more plentiful in the north, and is piincipally tuuiul on our southern 

 coasts in winter. It is a gregarious bird at all times of the year, and like the 

 Puffins and Guillemots obtains its food bv fishing. It lays but a single egg in a 

 crevice of a rock, or on a bare shelf of the latter. The ground colour o'i the egg is 

 white, and it is generally very handsomely blotched with rufous. It is not so pear- 

 shaped as that of the Guillemot, and is rather smaller than the egg ot the latter bird. 

 , The Great Auk is no longer a British bird, as there can be no 



GRE^T AUK doubt that it is now entirely extinct. In form it was like a 



{Plauhis imfiennis.) gigantic Kazor-Bill, but had such small wings that it was not 



Thf Razor Bu.i.. 



