RAZORBILL. 709 



Matthew Bailey noted some thousands in the cliffs, and 

 remarked to me that he had never before known them to be so 

 early ; though a still earlier date is the nth of the same 

 month, 1901, when several were seen at Buckton. 



By mid- August both old and young have left the breeding 

 quarters for the open sea, where they remain until the following 

 spring ; large numbers of young Razorbills were noticed off 

 the Humber on 22nd August 1881, and on the 4th of that 

 month in 1884, I saw two young in down off Redcar, probably 

 birds from the Fame Isles on their way southward. 



This species is more a wanderer than a regular migrant, 

 though there is a partial migration in autumn, small parties 

 being often observed in October flying to the south-east and 

 passing for several days continuously ; doubtless these are 

 individuals from more northerly latitudes taking the place 

 of our Yorkshire birds, which in their turn retire further 

 south. In winter storms the Razorbill is frequently driven 

 ashore by stress of weather, and found cast up on the beach, in 

 every month of the year between October and June ; at rare 

 intervals storm-driven birds are reported in inland localities 

 far removed from the seaboard ; on the high moorland near 

 Malham Tarn one was picked up in March 1894. 



Although the Razorbill and the Guillemot resemble each 

 other in many of their habits, the former begins laying a few 

 days before the other ; the earliest eggs the present climbers 

 have known were taken on 6th May. The situations the 

 bird selects are generally in holes or crevices, and not on the 

 open ledges, more being found at the Buckton portion of the 

 cliffs than further eastward. If the first egg is taken a second 

 is produced, and frequently a third in the event of the second 

 being stolen, the intervals between the layings being the 

 same as in the case of the Guillemot, i.e., fourteen days if 

 the egg is fresh, but, if it is slightly incubated, the next egg 

 may be delayed for several days longer ; while, if much 

 incubated, the time may be prolonged to twenty-four days. 

 Like the Guillemot, the Razorbill produces a distinct type of 

 egg, year after year, on its particular breeding place. In June 

 1906, I obtained an egg from a " dimmer/' who asserted that 



