292 THE COMMON GUILLEMOT 
Guillemotsand Razor-bills are known by the common name of Murre. 
At a distance the birds can only be distinguished by a practised 
eye ; but on a close inspection they cannot be possibly confounded. 
Razor-bills are common on many parts of our coast during the 
later summer months. They are more frequently seen swimming 
than flying, and if pursued by a boat are little disposed to take 
alarm until they are approached to within twenty or thirty yards, 
when they dive, but soon reappear not very far off. If two birds 
be in company and one be killed by a shot from a gun, its companion, 
instead of taking measures to insure its own safety, seems to lose 
the power of self-preservation. It paddles round its companion 
as if unable to comprehend the reason why it neither dives nor flies, 
and if pursued suffers itself to be overtaken and knocked down by 
an oar. This sympathetic feeling is not confined to birds which 
have paired, or to members of the same family ; for in an instance 
which came under my own notice, both birds were only a few months 
old, and, as the Razor-bill lays but one egg, the birds could not 
possibly have grown up together. Towards winter, Razor-bills 
migrate southwards, either to avoid cold or to find waters where 
their prey swims nearer to the surface than in our climate. In 
spring they return northwards, and repair, like Puffins, to places 
of habitual resort for the purpose of breeding. At this season, also, 
they are eminently social, laying each an egg in close proximity 
on a ledge in the rocks, lower down than the Puffins, but above 
the Guillemots, all of which birds flock to the same portion of 
coast, often in countless multitudes. The egg differs from that 
of the Guillemot not only in colour but in shape, being less 
decidedly pear-shaped. It is much sought after as an article of 
food, and is said to be very palatable. 
The ‘Auk’ of Arctic voyagers is this bird. The Razor-bill is 
one of the best known of the Auk family, or Alcidz, although less 
plentiful than the Guillemot or the Puffin. 
THE COMMON GUILLEMOT 
URIA TROILE 
Bill much compressed, longer than the head, greyish black; upper plumage 
brownish black ; the secondaries tipped with white; a whitish patch 
behind the eye on each side; under plumage white; feet dusky ; iris 
brown. Length nearly eighteen inches. Eggs greenish or bluish, 
blotched and streaked with black. 
Tuis is one of our common sea-birds during a great portion of the 
year, though little known to ordinary seaside visitors, owing to its 
habit of keeping well out to sea and having nothing ostentatious 
in its habits. |Yet, during a cruise in a yacht, on almost any part 
of the coast, a practised eye will often discover a few stragglers, 
Sg rn, a a ae 
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