334: THE GUEAT A UK. 



around the shores of temperate Europe. When near tlieir 

 breeding-places at the proper season, they assemble in thou- 

 sands, at times blackening the sea. 



Sitting closely along a ledge of rock, no matter ho^v elevated 

 above the sea, they impart all the appearance of being 

 ranged in file, or, as they have been compared by the Manx- 

 men, resembling an apothecary's shop — the even ledges of 

 the rock, the shelves, and the birds the pots; while on the 

 least alarm the entire range of the birds sweep downward 

 in a line to the sea. Such successful divers are they, and 

 rapacious feeders, that twenty-five herring fry have been 

 counted in the stomach of a single bird. Congregated in 

 parties of from eight to thirty, the}^ evince the umost amia- 

 bility towards each other, fishing and winging their way in 

 small fiocks to and from their breeding haunts. 



The Great Auk is an inhabitant of Northern Europe, and 

 has been rarely captured on our coasts. Of considerable 

 size, its power of progression is limited only to the water, the 

 shortness of its wings rendering it incapable of flight, and 

 from the backward position of its legs, it stands erect and 

 stately. Breeding in remote northern latitudes, the eggs 

 are obtained with great difiiculty. The length of the bird 

 is said to be from thirty inches to three feet; the bill four 

 inches long, is black with transverse furrows, the grooves 

 white. In the dress of winter the chin, throat, and sides 

 of the neck are white. The Razor-bill Auk is nearly equally 

 abundant with the guillemot on all our coasts, breeding in 

 the same manner together on rocks, and appearing off our 

 shores durin the winter in small parties. 



The Puffin, or "Sea-Parrot," so named from the bill, 

 which, in comparison with the size of the bird, is strongly 

 developed, is a summer visitant to English shores, repairing 

 to them for the purpose of incubation. It sometimes breeds 

 in fissures of the rocks; but its most general resort is in 

 holes and burrows, either formed by itself or supplied by 



