20 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS EGGS. 



32. Razor-billed Auk. A lea tor da. 



Range. North Atlantic coast, breeding from Bird Rock northward and 

 wintering south to the Middle States on the coast. 



[Grayish white.] 



The Razor-billed Auk is in form similar to the Murres, but the bill is very 

 different, being deep and thin, and with the upper mandible rounded at the tip. 

 Entire upper parts black shading to brownish on the throat. Under parts and 

 tips of secondaries, white ; line from eye to bill and another across the middle of 

 the bill, white. They nest in large numbers on Bird Rock in company with the 

 Murres and in still greater numbers off the coast of Labrador. Their eggs are 

 not placed in as exposed positions as the Murres, being generally behind boul- 

 ders or in crevices. This is necessary because, not being of the pear-shaped 

 form of the Murres, they would be very apt to be dislodged if commonly placed 

 on the narrow ledges. The eggs vary endlessly in marking but do not show the 

 differences in ground color that the Murres do. The color is white, grayish or 

 buffy. But one egg is generally laid, although two are sometimes found. Size 

 3.00 x 2.00. Data. Bay of Fundy. June 17, 1891. Single egg laid on bare 

 rock in a crevice under loose rocks. Collector, A. C. Bent. 



33. Great Auk. Plautus impennis. 



Range. Formerly the whole of the North Atlantic coasts. Now extinct. 



These great Auks formerly dwelt in large numbers on the islands of the North 

 Atlantic, but owing to their lack of the powers of flight and the destructiveness 

 of mankind, the living bird has disappeared from the face of the earth. 

 Although they were about thirty inches in length, their wings were even smaller 

 than those of the Razor-billed Auk, a bird only eighteen inches in length. 

 Although breeding off the coast of Newfoundland, they appeared winters as far 

 south as Virginia, performing their migration by swimming alone. The last 

 bird appears to have been taken in 1844, and Funk Island, off the coast of New- 



