AUK OR RAZORBILL 189 



the upper-parts in the adult is brownish buff, tendinjj; to i^rey, with the 

 cheeks and neck yellowish buff, the breast white, the abdomen greyish 

 brown, the beak dark horn-colour, the legs grey, and the toes black. 

 In young birds there is little or no yellow on the sides of the neck, the 

 under-parts are greyish white with brown bars and more or less distinct 

 streaks on the flanks, and the upper-parts are uniformly sooty brown. 



The visits of this species to the British Islands depend to a great 

 extent apparently on the nature of the season, and the abundance 

 or scarcity of fish, with gulls and terns to prey upon them in 

 proportionate numbers. Like the Arctic skua, the present bird is 

 much more commonly seen on the east coast of England in autumn 

 than on either the south or the west sides of our island ; and to 

 Ireland, where it is least uncommon on the coasts of Connaught and 

 Ulster, it is described as a rare and uncertain visitor, appearing chiefly 

 in autumn, although occasionally seen in May and June. It may be 

 found, on migration, all along the Scottish coasts, and visits Skye and 

 most or all of the other northern islands, while it breeds on the high 

 grounds of Lapland ; another well-known breeding-place being the 

 open moorland of Alaska, where the two eggs are deposited in a 

 cup-like hole in the moss, after the general fashion of the members of 

 this group. In size these eggs are somewhat inferior to those of 

 Richardson's skua, their length varying only between 2 and 2^ inches ; 

 they also display a more decided tendency to an olive tone of colour, 

 and are likewise somewhat paler. As a rule, the ground-colour is light 

 clay, but at least two examples are known in which this is replaced 

 by pale bluish green. 



Auk or Razorbill Lespite the peculiarity of their bodily form, which 

 (Alea torda) recalls in some degree that of the penguins of the 

 southern seas, the group of birds typified by the 

 auk, or razorbill, and collectively known as auks, appears to be nearly 

 related to the gulls and terns, although they constitute a distinct 

 ordinal group — the Alcae — of which there is but a single family, Alcidai. 

 Formerly indeed they were classed with the grebes and divers, but 

 this is now known to be an unnatural association, the superficial 

 resemblance existing between the members of the two groups being, 

 as in so many similar instances, merely an adaptation to the same 

 kind of existence. With the gulls and terns the auks agree in the 

 webbing of their toes, which is, however, only another adaptive 

 character, as well as in certain far more important features, such as 

 the structure of the bony palate of the skull, which is of the open as 



