1917-] Ornithology of Malta. 521 



324. (321) Alca torda L. The Razorbill. 

 Local name : Mustal bahar. 



Wright in his fifth appendix says that he had the oppor- 

 tunity of examining the specimen taken many years before, 

 which gave rise to the admittance of the Guillemot into 

 the list of Maltese birds, and this turned out to be a young 

 Razorbill. The species is undoubtedly of casual and rare 

 occurrence, though we have some records when it has 

 visited us in relatively large numbers. Mr. Micallef, for 

 instance, once obtained thirty-four specimens during a 

 single season. I have two in my collection ; one is a young, 

 of the year, which I picked up in the Valletta Market on 

 the 3rd of January, 1912 ; the other, which is an adult in 

 full plumage, was taken on a hook at a distance of two or 

 three miles to the north of Gozo on the 12th of June of 

 the same year. The local name was given to the species by 

 the late Prof. Tagliaferro. Owing to a misprint, it appears 

 in my list of 1915 as Tus, which was evidently intended for 

 Mus, meaning "knife." 



325. (332) Uria troille troille (L.). The Common Guil- 

 lemot. 



Local name : Bughaddas rar. 



I remember seeing a mounted specimen when I was quite 

 a boy, and I remember too that the bird was said to have 

 been taken alive from the Grand Harbour in a very severe 

 winter. The local name I heard fi*om the possessor of the 

 specimen in question. My friend Mr. L. Cachia Zammit 

 assures me that about ten or twelve years ago these birds 

 visited us in fairly large numbers, and he shot sis or 

 seven of them. On the 17th of January, 1911, I met 

 with a specimen in the Valletta jNIarket ; this was taken 

 at Bahan ic-ciagliac the day before. It is now in my private 

 collection. 



326. (333) Alia alle (L.). The Little Auk. 

 Local name : Blongiun tat-tempesti. 



On the 27th of January, 1912, I procured a specimen 



