NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 21 



32. RAZOR-BILLED AUK. Alca torda Linn. Geog. Dist. Coasts and 

 islands of the North Atlantic, south in winter on the North American coast to 

 Southern New England. 



The Razor-billed Auk is abundant on the coasts and islands of the North At- 

 lantic and some parts of the Polar seas. The Razor-billed Auk is about eighteen 

 inches long, with a pointed tail and flatly compressed bill; the plumage is brownish- 

 black above and white beneath, the black bill having a white curved line and the back 

 part of the wing is edged with white. It breeds from the northeastern coast of 

 Maine northward. Mr. Frazar found it common everywhere in Labrador, more so 

 even than the Murre, Uria troile, owing to its habit of breeding in less r'requented 

 places concealing its eggs in the cracks and crevices among the rocks, where it was 

 not apt to be disturbed. It frequents the rock shores, and deposits its eggs in June 

 and July, often in deep fissures of the rocks and in caverns. It very frequently lays 

 its eggs at the entrance of inhabited puffin's burrows. Generally one egg is laid, 

 but in about twenty instances Mr. Frazar found two. These are white with a creamy 

 or bluish tint, spotted and blotched with dark brown or black, the spots often be- 

 coming confluent and generally forming a circle toward the large end; pyriform to 

 oval in shape; size about 3.00x2.00. The eggs exhibit a great variety in the distribu- 

 tion and style of markings. In shape they are not distinguishable from some types 

 of the common Guillemot, but are generally more or less ovate or elongated pear- 

 shape. The Razor-billed Auk breeds sparingly on the outlying rocky islands of 

 Nova Scotia, as on Devil's Limb and Gannet rock. The bird is about eighteen 

 inches long. In life it is said to have a particularly trim and elegant form, and its 

 feathers are always kept perfectly clean, smooth and glossy. This Auk is said to be 

 of quarrelsome disposition, seldom allowing a puffin or murre to alight near it with- 

 out opening its bill at the intruder and disclosing a bright orange mouth. The 

 Razor-bill rides lightly on the water and dives well. 



33. GREAT AUK. Plautus impennis (Linn.) Geog. Dist. Formerly the coasts 

 and islands of the North Atlantic, from Massachusetts and Ireland northward nearly 

 to the Arctic Circle. Now extinct. 



Ornithologists generally agree that the Great Auk has disappeared from the 

 face of the earth. Within the present generation it is one of the birds that has be- 

 come extinct doubtless through the agency of man. Like the penguin, which it much 

 resembles in general form, it did not possess wings suitable for flight, those mem- 

 bers being of very small size and only useful as fins in the water. The specific name, 

 impennis, or wingless, is not really a correct term. An excellent and thorough paper* 

 on this bird has been written by Frederick A. Lucas, of the United States National 

 Museum. I quote the article entire: "The Great Auk, or Garefowl (Alca impennis), 

 was the largest member of the Auk family, distinguished not only by its size, but 

 by its Sightlessness, enjoying the proud distinction of being the sole bird in the 

 northern hemisphere incapable of flight. The name by which the Great Auk was 

 originally and commonly known in America was Penguin, and like southern birds, 

 now known by that title, did not receive this appellation until many years after. 

 Garefowl is of Scandinavian origin, and comes to us by way of western Scotland. 

 In color nie Great Auk much resembled its lesser relative, the Razorbill, the head, 

 neck, and bacK being black, and the under parts white. A peculiar mark of the bird 

 was a large white spot in front of the eye, one old writer with a greater love of the 



* Animals recently extinct or threatened with extermination, as represented in the 

 collections of the U. S. National Museum. Smithsonian Report, 1889, pp. 638-641. 



