192 AUK GROUP 



to<^cthcr with the white stripe runniiiL; from the beak to the eye, 

 afford unmistakable signs by which to recognise the adult razorbill. 

 Immature birds lack, however, the grooves and stripes on the beak, 

 although showing a more or less well defined eye-stripe. In summer, 

 the head and neck of the adult are sooty brown, the back and wings 

 black glossed with green, while the undcr-parts and a bar across the 

 wings (formed by the tips of the secondary quills) are white. In 

 winter the upper-parts are browner, and the sides of the head and 

 fore portion of the neck white like the under-parts. Young birds are 

 like the adults in winter. The long woolly down of the nestling is 

 sandy brown above and white below. 



The razorbill is a social bird, consorting with its fellows in large 

 flocks at all seasons of the year ; and it appears that in many parts of 

 the country, at any rate, its apparently diminished numbers in autumn 

 are mainly due to the fact that a large proportion of the birds betake 

 themselves to the open sea. In the south of Ireland, and probably 

 also on the Cornish coast, some of the razorbills begin to visit their 

 breeding-places as early as the end of February, and by the end of 

 the middle third of the following month have taken up their stations ; 

 by the i6th of May laying has commenced, but is not in full swing 

 till the latter part of that month, from which date fresh eggs and 

 callow young may be found side by side till the latter part of June. 

 In the north of Ireland the breeding-sites are not fully garrisoned till 

 April, and in Scotland this does not take place till yet later. By 

 the end of July the birds in Ireland begin to leave their breeding- 

 places, and by the early part of August all have taken to the water. 

 Although, despite the comparative shortness of its wings, the razorbill, 

 after it is once fairly under way, flies well, its real home is the water, 

 on which it frequently sleeps, and in which it dives with remarkable 

 speed and endurance, leaving a line of air-bubbles to mark its course. 

 The object of this diving is twofold, being either to capture fish as 

 they swim, or to pick out shrimps, crabs, or shell-fish from their 

 hiding-places among rocks or seaweed at the bottom. When 

 swimming, these birds will often chase one another in a sportive 

 manner ; but, unlike puffins, they never seem to fly about their haunts 

 for the sake of amusement, always plunging headlong into the water 

 immediately on leaving the rocks. On the other hand, they frequently 

 fly long distances to their feeding-grounds, when small parties wend 

 their way in single file, just skimming the surface of the waves. The 

 fry of the herring and the coal -fish is stated to constitute a large 

 portion of the food of the razorbill. 



