494 THE ROTCHE AND THE RAZOR-BILL. 



gard ; but, according to M. von Wright, " only met with, 

 and in small numbers, quite late in the autumn and during 

 the winter ; for early in the spring it disappears altoge- 

 ther, and is never seen during the summer time." It is 

 on record that stragglers have been shot in the Wenern, in 

 the lake Mjosen in Norway, and elsewhere. M. Malm 

 describes it as at times exceedingly abundant, during the 

 winter months, on the shores of the Icy Sea ; but it is only 

 seen there, he says, at that season. Its proper home is the 

 more northern part of the polar seas, but storms occasionally 

 drive it to the southward. This was the case in the winter 

 of 1830-31, when it appeared on the coast of Scania in im- 

 mense numbers. The harbour of Ysted was occasionally, 

 indeed, almost covered with these birds. Once in a time it 

 visits Denmark also. 



The Razor-Bill (Tordmule ; Alk, Sw. ; Alca Torda, 

 Linn.) was not uncommon on the neighbouring coast during 

 autumn and winter; but it always took its departure from 

 thence early in the spring. Nilsson says it breeds in the 

 eastern Skargard ; but it never did so with us. Its proper 

 home during the summer months is the coasts of Finrnark, 

 where it nests in enormous colonies. It is very common on 

 the Danish coasts in the winter, and some are known to 

 breed there. 



Pontoppidan gives a rather remarkable account of the 

 razor-bill. " They can fish and swim beyond many others," 

 he says, " but are very weak at flying or walking, because the 

 legs are placed as if upon the rump so very far behind, that 

 it is troublesome to move them on land ; the bird, therefore, 

 totters like a drunken man. On this account is the saying : 

 ' Drunk as an alk.' The wings are of no great use, and for 



