BIRDS OF ICELAND 127 



p. 374, etc.), Mr. Symington Grieve's The Great Auk or 

 Gar ef owl (1885), and the same gentleman's 'Eecent 

 Information about the Great Auk ' {Transactions, Edin- 

 burgh Field ISTaturalists, etc., Society, 1888). 



The Qgg, as most people know (for even the veriest 

 Gallic must have looked with awe and attention upon 

 an egg valued at about £300) is a large copy of the 

 Razorbill's egg ; there are between sixty and seventy 

 in existence, about eighty skins, five-and-twenty more 

 or less complete skeletons, besides a great many odd 

 bones. The bird was a large edition of the Razorbill 

 also, but about 2 feet 8 inches long. It had a large 

 and conspicuous white patch between the eye and bill. 

 As already mentioned, it was so short in the wings as 

 to be incapable of flight, but was a wonderful diver 

 and swimmer. It was therefore physically incapable 

 of breeding in any place where it was safe from man, 

 and could only land and breed where the rock sloped 

 up from the water's edge. For that reason it probably 

 was very scarce on the Geirf ugladrangr — ' drangr ' is a 

 name only applied to islands with precipitous sides. 



TJria troile (Linn.). Guillemot. 



Native name : 'Langnefja,' or ' Ldngvia,' and the 'ringed ' 

 or 'bridled' variety is called 'Hringvia,' which 

 name is sometimes misapplied to the Razorbill. 



Resident and abundant, especially in the south; 

 many remaining to winter. It breeds in thousands on 



