BIRDS OF THE SEA-SHORE. 



28 5 



RAZORBILL. 



The Razorbill and the Guillemot are common birds on most 

 of our coasts where there are cliffs, but we shall see them 

 chiefly as swimming and diving birds as we walk along the 

 shore. The Razorbill (A lea fordo) when swimming carries its 

 tail parts higher out of the water 

 than the Guillemot (Uria troile}, and 

 is further distinguished by the high 

 compressed bill with white trans- 

 Averse stripes, the white stripe from 

 the bill to the eye, and the dark- 

 brown throat. The Guillemot has a 

 l n > straight, pointed beak, white 

 throat crossed by a greyish cravat, 

 continued from the mottled black 

 and white of the back of the head and neck. It is too 

 common as a dead, sodden-plumaged bird in the rock-pools 

 after winter storms, which prevent it fishing, and starve it to 

 death. The legs and feet are greyish, the webs black. 



The Black Guillemot (Uria grylle) breeds on cliffs in Scot- 

 land, Ireland, and Man, but in winter also visits the south and 

 south-west coasts. Its summer dress is wholly black, save for 

 a patch of white on the coverts, but in winter the black is all 

 replaced by white and very pale grey. The legs and feet 

 differ, too, from those of U. troile in being vermilion in the 

 present species. 



The Puffin (Fratercula arcticd) 

 is identified readily, wherever 

 seen, by its conspicuous com- 

 pressed orange beak of great 

 depth from top to bottom. -I 

 This gives it a humorous as- 

 pect that belongs to itself 

 alone; but it is useful to it 

 also, for it makes a very efficient 

 cracking instrument wherewith 



