176 GOOSANDER. AUK, -OR RAZOR-BILL. 



Those which visit this country at the approach of 

 winter, and therefore may be called birds of passage, are 

 neither so fat nor well-flavoured as those which continue 

 with us the whole year. As soon as they arrive, they fly 

 about in search of a proper residence : in the choice of 

 which they have two objects in view ; plenty of food, and 

 security from molestation. For this purpose they prefer 

 lakes in the vicinity of marshes and thickets, where insects 

 are most abundant, and where they can have a speedy 

 retreat in case of annoyance. But, notwithstanding 

 all their care, the fowlers make terrible havoc among 

 them ; and decoy-ducks are tamed to inveigle them into 

 nets. 



The decoys in Lincolnshire are hired for considerable 

 sums annually; and from them the London market is 

 chiefly supplied with this delicate fowl. Upwards of 

 thirty thousand ducks, widgeon, and teal, are said to have 

 been sent up in the course of one season, from ten decoys 

 in the vicinity of Wainfleet. 



THE GOOSANDER. 



This bird belongs to the goose genus, with which fowl 

 it agrees in most particulars. It frequents pur rivers and 

 lakes, especially in severe winters ; but during the summer 

 retires far northward, for the purpose of breeding, and is 

 never seen even in the more southern parts of this island* 

 It feeds entirely on fish ; which communicates such a 

 rankness to its flesh, that it is scarcely eatable. 



THE AUK, OR RAZOR-BILL. 



This bird, which is a native of the northern parts of 

 Europe, is about eighteen inches long, and the expansion 

 of its wings twenty-seven. The bill is pretty long, black, 

 gtrong, and sharp at the edges : the upper mandible being 

 marked with four transverse grooves, and the lower with 

 three. The head, throat, and entire upper side of the 

 body, are black ; but the tips of the smaller quill-feathers 

 on the wings are white, as is the whole under-side of the 

 body. 



