22 ELEMENTS OF ORNITHOLOGY. 
habits, and also a most ready diver, it lives upon the open sea 
save at the breeding-time, when it seeks some rocky cliff, such 
as the Bass Rock or Flamborough Head. In such places they 
assemble in vast numbers, and Guillemots are often seen in 
thousands at their breeding-places. ‘There each hen bird lays but 
a single large egg, not deposited in any nest, but simply on 
some ledge or in some fissure of the rocks. Their most variously 
coloured eggs are in much request as food, and desperate risks 
are run in obtaining them from the often precipitous localities 
where they are laid. Young birds, incapable of flight, are to 
be found on the sea, though how they get there from their 
lofty hatching-place has not yet been ascertained. 
A small bird—nearly related to the Common Guillemot—ealled 
the Sea-dove or Little Auk (Alle nigricans), Visits us in winter 
from Spitzbergen. There it breeds in incredible numbers. It 
is more commonly to be found in the Orkneys and Shetlands 
than further south in our Islands. 
The Razorbill (Alca torda) is very like a Guillemot, save for 
its high, sharp-edged, and hooked bill. It is confined to the 
North Atlantic Ocean, and such prolongations of that ocean as 
the British Seas. There it catches fish with great dexterity, 
pursuing them under water in what may be called aquatic 
flight, as its wings as well as its webbed feet aid its pursuit. 
Its principal interest, however, consists in the fact that it is the 
nearest living representative of the Great Auk or Gare-fowl 
(Alca impennis), which seems to have become extinct about 
the year 1844. Some 76 skins and 9 skeletons, with 68 
eggs and a few bones, preserved in collections, are all the relics 
we have of this strange Bird. It had absolutely no power of 
flight, and was as large as a Goose. On land it ran and walked 
in an upright attitude, but dived and swam under water with 
extreme celerity and ease. Two hundred and seventy years ago 
hundreds at a time could be taken at the coast of Newfound- 
land; but the last one recorded to have been taken in our 
Islands was at Waterford Harbour in 1834. Its breeding- 
places ranged from the north of Scotland, the Hebrides and 
Iceland, to Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia, and it 
was entirely confined to the Northern Hemisphere. 
Another strictly aquatic and marine Bird with no powers of 
flight is now entirely confined to the Southern Hemisphere. 
This is the King Penguin (Aptenodytes longirostris), which may 
be selected as an example of about a dozen and half of Penguins 
