90 Mr. C. Dixon on the 



Mergulus alle. 



The Little Auk occurs sparingly at St. Kilda in winter. 

 Donald recognized at a glance a figure of this species I had 

 with me. 



Alga torda. " Falcadh.''^ 



The Razorbill is almost as common as the Guillemot^ and 

 breeds on all the islands and stacks. They were seen sitting 

 in rows along the ledges of the cliffs. Its eggs are more 

 difficult to j)rocure than those of the Guillemot, and for ten 

 Guillemot^s eggs in the possession of the natives I only 

 saw one RazorbilTs. I took an egg of this bird from a deep 

 hole in the ground where the Petrels were breeding, and 

 Donald told me that he takes an egg from this particular 

 hole every year. The Razorbills which I shot had the irides 

 hazel ; legs and feet smoky black ; bill black, streaked with 

 white ; inside of the mouth brilliant yellow. 



Alga impennis. " An crbhoil.^' 



St. Kilda was perhaps the only part of the United King- 

 dom where the Great Auk ever bred. Martin was probably 

 the first naturalist to give us any information from personal 

 observation of this bird. He states that it is " the stateliest 

 as well as the largest of all the Fowls here " and that " he 

 flyeth not at all, lays his egg [!] upon the bare rock, which 

 if taken away, he lays no more for that year." The Great 

 Auk, so far as we have any record, does not seem to have bred 

 there regularly. The last specimen that was taken at St. 

 Kilda appears to have been in 1822, 



I am convinced that much of the information which has 

 been gathered at St. Kilda respecting the Great Auk is very 

 unreliable. I think that the Great Northern Diver has been 

 its proxy more than once ; and that the bird which the St.- 

 Kildans stoned to death (as I was informed) forty years ago 

 on Stack-an-Armin, thinking that it was an evil spirit, was 

 nothing more than Colymbus glacialis. I must, however, state 

 that the old man who assisted in this ornithological sacrilege 

 recognized the plate of the Great Auk whicli I had brought 

 with me. None of the young men know any thing about the 



