58 alcidj:. 



comes the young one again, only to get another dose ; but the 

 young bird cannot remain so long under water as the mother, 

 audit often dodges her by diving for an instant. The young 

 birds remain in the sea for one or two days, when they all 

 prepare to leave, the old birds getting restless and taking 

 short flights. One can generally tell the night before they 

 leave, as they make such a noise : should the wind be favour- 

 able they take their departure before sunrise in small 

 strings." 



Of late years there has been a noticeable and unaccount- 

 able diminution in the number of Razor-bills on the British 

 coasts. This may partly be owing to severe visitations of 

 mortality which have from time to time affected many sea- 

 birds, but especially the present species. Mr. R. Gray states 

 that in 1859 thousands of dead birds, the Razor-bills being in 

 the proportion of ten to one, were observed in the Irish Sea and 

 on the west coasts of Scotland, and in that instance Mr. D. 

 Robertson (Pr. N. H. Soc. Glasgow, i. p. 4) traced the reason 

 with tolerable certainty to the sudden disappearance of the 

 small herring fry and other fishes after heavy gales, leading 

 to emaciation and starvation. Mr. Gatcombe's experience 

 is similar. The Razor-bill is, however, nowhere so abundant 

 as the Guillemot, although its general distribution is about 

 the same in the British seas and along our coasts. After 

 storms, individuals have occasionally been found in the most 

 inland districts of our narrow islands. 



The Razor-bill breeds in the Faeroes, Iceland, Norway, 

 Sweden, and some of the Baltic Islands ; but Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney jun., informs the Editor that it no longer does so 

 on Heligoland. There are stations on the French coast, 

 both in the Channel and in Brittany, south of which it is 

 not positively known to breed in Europe. On migration a 

 few visit the Mediterranean Sea as far east as Malta ; but 

 the majority keep well out in the Atlantic unless driven into 

 the bays by stormy weather. It breeds on the west coast of 

 Greenland, as far north at least as Arvcprins Island (about 

 70° N. lat.), where Major Feilden observed that one, out of 

 many which were shot, had its hatching- spot on the side 



