THE ALCADA. 151 
reason, the Norwegians, who, being mostly a maritime popula-- 
tion, pay the greatest attention to the aspect of the sky, think 
it impious to destroy, or even to disturb, this species. 
The family of Alcade, comprising the Guillemots, Auks, 
Razor Bills, and Puffins, is in form of body very similar to the 
Divers: the legs, which are short and thick, are inserted very 
far back, and give a still more erect carriage to the bird when 
on shore. The wings are short and small in proportion to the 
bulk of the body, and in the (now probably extinct) Great Auk, 
so much so as to be unfitted for flight. The Auks are strictly 
sea-birds, and nestle on its borders, breeding in caverns and 
rocky cliffs, and laying only one large egg. They obtain their 
food by diving, at which they are very expert. They are of 
social habits, and congregate in vast flocks on the rocky islets 
and headlands of the northern coasts. At the head of the 
Magdalen Bay, on Spitzbergen, for instance, there is a high 
pyramidal mountain of granite, termed Rotge Hill, from the 
myriads of small birds of that name (Little Auk, Alca alce), 
which frequent its base, and which appear to prefer its en- 
virons to every other part of the harbour. They are so nume- 
rous that Admiral Beechey frequently saw an uninterrupted line 
of them extending full half-way over the bay, or to a distance 
of more than three miles, and so close together that thirty fell at 
one shot. This living column, on an average, might have been 
about six yards broad, and as many deep; so that allowing 
sixteen birds to a cubic yard, there must have been nearly four 
millions of birds on the wing at one time. 
The calling or crying of the rotges amongst one another 
sounds at a distance as if you heard a great many women scold- 
mg together; so that the noise of millions uniting in a chorus 
must be terrific. On a fine summer’s day, when a glorious 
sunshine gilds the snow peaks and glaciers of Spitzbergen, the 
merry cry of the little auk unites with that of the willocks, 
divers, cormorants, gulls, and other aquatic birds; and every- 
where groups of walruses, basking in the sun, mingle their 
playful roar with the husky bark of the seal. It is pleasant 
to reflect that in those arctic wilds, uninhabitable by man, there 
are still miJlions of creatures enjoying life, all owing their sup- 
port to the inexhaustible “ garners ” of the deep. 
In the Penguins of the southern hemisphere, the shortness of 
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