RAZOR-BILLED AUK. 413 



Besides breeding in Labrador, Mr. Audubon found that the 

 Razor-bill occasionally nested in the Island of (irand Menan, 

 the Seal Islands, and others situated at the entrance of the 

 Bay of Fundy. 



Though it walks and runs awkwardly, this bird moves swiftly, 

 and can easily escape from place to place. The bite of the 

 old bird, like that of the Puffin, is very severe. The fishermen 

 of this region call this species the Hawk-billed Murre. Its 

 flesh is quite palatable, although very dark, and much eaten 

 by the Greenlanders, according to Crantz, forming their chief 

 subsistence during the months of February and March. These 

 birds are killed with missiles, chased and driven ashore in 

 canoes, or taken in nets made of split whalebone. Their skins 

 are also used for clothing. The eggs are everywhere accounted 

 a delicacy, and the feathers of the breast are extremely fine, 

 warm, and elastic. For the sake of this handful of feathers, 

 according to Audubon, thousands of these birds are killed in 

 Labrador, and their bodies strewed on the shore. 



The islands between the small port of Little Macatine and 

 Brador abound with these and other allied marine birds, whose 

 eggs are collected by the inhabitants of Nova Scotia. For this 

 purpose they commence by trampling on all they find laid, and 

 the following day begin to collect those which are newly dropped ; 

 and such is the abundance of the eggs that Mr. Audubon fell in 

 with a party of three men who, in the course of six weeks, had 

 collected thirty thousand dozen, of the estimated value of four 

 hundred pounds sterling. Beyond Brador the Murres and 

 Puffins were no longer found. 



The Razor-bill breeds on the Atlantic coast from the Bay of 

 Fundy to the northern part of Labrador, though very few exam- 

 ples are found in summer south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In 

 winter these birds wander along the coast of New England and the 

 adjacent Provinces and southward casually to North Carolina. 



