RAZORBILE 471 
youngsters when they receive their first ducking in the 
briny deep. I have heard them crying in piteous accents 
for their fond parents, who, out of their sight in the depths 
beneath, were diligently pursuing fish to feed them. Soon 
the young, however, acquire a knowledge of diving, and with 
a certain air of independence, follow their parents far out to 
sea. It has been observed that sometimes the old bird will 
dive, directly the young one reaches the water and come up 
under its offspring, which, hoisted on the parent’s back, 
sits securely there, until carried out to sea (HK. M. 
McCarron). 
Geographical distribution.—Abroad, the Razorbill breeds 
in the Faroes, Iceland, Scandinavia, and other countries of 
Northern and Temperate Europe, as high as lat. 71° N., 
and southward to Brittany. Eastward its breeding-grounds 
do not extend to Asia, but westward they reach Greenland 
and the eastern sea-board of Canada. In winter it is 
found scattered over the European Seas, including the 
Mediterranean, and in large numbers in the North Atlantic 
Ocean, down to lat. 30° N. 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial.—Top of head, hind-neck, 
back, scapulars, and upper tail-coverts, glossy greenish-black ; 
sides of face, chin, and throat, brownish-black ; fore-neck, 
breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts, white; primaries, 
dark brown ; secondaries, dark brown, tipped with white, 
forming a narrow alar bar; tail (of 12 feathers), dark 
brewnish-black and wedge-shaped; a thin white line ex- 
tends from the base of the beak to the front of the eye. 
Adult female nuptial.—Similar in plumage to the male. 
Adult winter, male and female.—Cheeks, chin, throat, 
front of neck, and sides of the head behind the eye, white ; 
the narrow white stripe between the beak and the eye is 
absent; scapulars and feathers of the back, only faintly 
glossed. 
Immature, male and female.— Resembles the adult 
winter-plumage, but the white line from the beak to the 
eye 1s very indistinct. 
Beak. Black; rather deep and laterally compressed, 
and exhibiting a large distinct white transverse furrow and 
several smaller ones in front of it near the tip. The beak 
of the immature bird is smooth and shallow. 
FrET. Black; no hind-toe. 
IripEes. Dark brown. 
