THE RAZOR-BILLED AUK. 565 



This well-known species is very abundant on the north-eastern coasts of North 

 America, and appears to be quite identical with the bird of the northern regions of 

 the Old World. It wanders southwardly in the winter, and is occasionally noticed 

 on the coasts of the Middle States on the Atlantic. This bird may always be recog- 

 nized by the conspicuous white line in front of the eye, which is present in all ages 

 and stages of plumage. 



THIS species visits our coasts, in small numbers only, in 

 the winter months. It breeds in the most northern por- 

 tions of the continent, the nearest breeding-place to New 

 England being the islands in the Bay of Fundy. Audu- 

 bon, in describing the breeding habits of this bird, says, 



" When the Auks deposit their eggs along with the Guillemots, 

 which they sometimes do, they drop them in spots from which the 

 water can escape without injuring them : but when they breed in 

 deep fissures, which is more frequently the case, many of them lie 

 close together ; and the eggs are deposited on small beds of pebbles 

 or broken stones, raised a couple of inches or more to let the water 

 pass beneath them. When they lay their eggs in such a horizontal 

 cavern, you find them scattered at the distance of a few inches 

 from each other : and there, as well as in the fissures, they sit flat 

 upon them, like Ducks, for example; whereas, on an exposed 

 rock, each bird stands almost upright upon its egg. Another thing, 

 quite as curious, which I observed, is that, while in exposed situa- 

 tions, the Auk seldom lays more than one egg ; yet, in places of 

 greater security, I have, in many instances, found two under a sin 

 gle bird. The eggs measure at an average 3^ by 2^ inches, and 

 are generally pure-white, greatly blotched with dark-brown or 

 black ; the spots generally forming a circle towards the larger end. 

 They differ considerably from those of the Common and Thick- 

 billed Guillemots, being less blunted at the smaller end." 



It is a matter of great difficulty to distinguish the eggs 

 of this species from those of the Murre and Foolish Guille- 

 mot. In a large number of each in my collection, I can 

 discover no characteristic peculiar to either so persistent 

 as to distinguish it. The exception noted by Audubon, of 

 the small end being less sharpened than the others, is 



