Natural History of the Island of Rathlin. 63 
Buack Guittemor. (Uria grylie.) This bird frequents the southern or Ushet 
extremity of the island—a place totally devoid of any other sea-fowl—and the shores 
which immediately front Ballycastle, where I found them in number about thirty, 
flying backwards and forwards among the rocks, where they had established them- 
selves. I saw only one pair on the northern shores, and could not ascertain whether 
they bred there or not. At their breeding haunts on the southern shore they were 
very wary, and could scarcely be approached; but the day I visited the immediate 
vicinity of the spot I allude to, was so stormy, and the sea ran so high, that I dared 
not keep the boat closer to the rocks, in order to examine their breeding places more 
particularly. The black guillemots were easily distinguished from all the others, by 
the dark plumage and the white spots on the wings. 
Razor-sitt Aux. (Alca torda.) This auk was found associated with the foolish 
guillemot in countless numbers on the northern shores of Rathlin. It was, however, 
much more plentiful than the guillemot, but so much resembling it in general appear- 
ance, that by the boatmen they were invariably confounded, and, while sitting on the 
rocks, regarded as belonging to the same species. The cry of the razor-bill auk is a 
kind of croak, harsh and disagreeable; and by an imitation of it, the birds, securing 
themselves behind the ledges of rock, are drawn out from their lurking places by the 
fowlers. The egg is similar in size and markings to that of the guillemot ; the young 
were covered with dark grey down, the bill slightly hooked at the tip, but not pre- 
senting the peculiar marks which characterize that of the adult. 
Common Purrix. (F'ratercula arctica.) These little birds breed in great num- 
bers at the Bull Point, and the headlands adjoining, where the rocks are based with 
mould, and intersected and covered here and there with patches of grass ; thus afford- 
ing them facilities for scooping out their nests. These we found wherever the earth 
appeared among the rocks. Here they excavate or burrow in the mould to the depth 
of two or three feet; and, at the extremity of the excavation, the egg, which is white 
and about the size of a hen’s, is deposited on the bare earth. From being surrounded 
by the damp mould, it appears, when taken from the hole, of a dirty brown, but, on 
being washed, it acquires its natural colour. The puffins seemed equally numerous 
as the razor-bill auks ; they took possession of the earthy parts, while the latter sat 
close beside them on all those bare ledges of rock not otherwise occupied. These 
birds, with a few guillemots, were met with in considerable numbers along the range 
of white cliffs facing the south, and forming the northern boundary of Church bay ; 
they were not, however, by any means so numerous as on the northern side of the 
Bull Point. The opinion prevails here, as well as elsewhere, that the puffins feed 
their young with sorrel, when they become, as it is stated, too fat to allow them to 
make their escape from their burrowed nests. This idea I conceived might have ori- 
ginated in consequence of the quantity of the plant not unfrequently found growing, 
as in Rathlin, in the vicinity of their nests. 
