404 THE RAZOR-BILL. 



produce only one egg ; but still that could not account for the 

 small number visible : we could only therefore suspect, from 

 certain friendly croakings uttered by the old ones, when turn- 

 ing their heads towards little chinks, the extremities of which 

 were invisible, that the infant birds were kept in the back- 

 ground ; and well they were so, for otherwise, in the constant 

 disturbances and tumblings incessantly taking place, the whole 

 rising generation must inevitably have broken their necks in 

 the confusion, by falling over, before they were able to fly. 

 But a greater surprise was excited by perceiving, in the midst 

 of the bustle, a solitary egg here and there lying on the bare 

 rock, within a few inches of the edge. By what care or 

 instinct was it preserved from falling ? It has been said, that if 

 they are removed by a human hand, it is impossible, or at least 

 extremely difficult, to replace them in their former situation ; 

 whence it has been inferred, that they are glued by some secret 

 cement to the rock. Some of our ablest naturalists, however, 

 doubt this ; but if it is not so, the mystery is rather increased 

 than lessened for they are in a most hazardous position ; but 

 they are preserved, though by what means we have yet to learn. 



The Razor-bills were by no means so numerous as the 

 Guillemots, and, generally speaking, did not mix with them ; 

 seeming to hold themselves apart as the better bird of the two, 

 peering at one another, and pluming their coats with a sort of 

 dandy satisfaction at their superior brilliancy and glossiness. 



Besides these more common species, there are others, rarely 

 found in Britain, being chiefly confined to the colder and more 

 inhospitable regions of the northern or southern divisions of the 

 globe, where they exist in numbers almost surpassing our powers 

 of computation. One species in particular, the Little Auk, or 

 Greenland Dove, Sir Edward Parry met with by millions, 

 when the ships got amongst the ice in particular spots, and 

 they were killed for sea provisions. But in the southern 

 hemisphere they appear to be even still more abundant. 



Adjacent to the islands of Australia,* the Sooty Petrels 

 congregate in incredible masses, of from fifty to eighty yards 

 in depth, and of three hundred yards or more in breadth, not 

 * FLINDERS' Australia. 



