292 THE COMMON GITILLEMOT 



Guillemots and 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 Alcidae, 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. 



This 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, 



