284 NEW- YORK FAUNA — BIRDS. 



Description. Adult: Bill much compressed, high and rounded ; the profile of the upper 

 mandible almost vertical at the tip; its depth at the angle of the upper mandible 0*8, and 

 exceeding somewhat the distance between the nostrils and the tip of the bill. A narrow 

 oblique slit along the base of the upper mandible ; next to this, a white sinuous ridge 

 extending across both mandibles ; to this succeed two other ridges concentric with the pre- 

 ceding, and the rudiments of a third, all crossing the lower mandible. Tail graduated, of 

 twelve acuminated feathers ; the central pair more acute and longer than the others. 



Color. Head, neck and all the upper parts deep reddish brown or black ; the chin and 

 fore part of the neck being somewhat more rufous. A narrow line of white runs from the 

 base of the upper mandible, near the front, to the eyes. Secondaries tipped with white, 

 forming a narrow band across the wings. 



Young, shot November 3 : Bill comparatively smooth ; its height at the angle of the lower 

 mandible P 6 : there are traces of a furrow along, the base of the upper mandible, but the 

 remainder is smooth : tail as in the adult. Color, black above ; traces of the white stripe to 

 the eyes, and of the white tips of the secondaries ; chin, throat, sides of the head behind the 

 eyes, and all beneath white. The white on the sides of the head extends over on the nape, 

 and the black on the nape beneath extends around nearly to the middle of the neck in front i 

 occasionally this is united by a band of speckled brown. 



Length, 16-0- 17' 0. 



The Razorbill appears along the coast of this State, in small numbers, every autumn and 

 winter. Breeds from the Gulf of St. Lawrence along the coast of Labrador. Eggs one or 

 two, very large, white blotched with brown chiefly about the larger end. Its geographical 

 range on our coast, as far as yet ascertained, is between the 40th and 57th parallels. Com- 

 mon to America and Europe. 



The following species presents so many variations from the normal type of the group, that 

 it has been very properly erected into a distinct genus. 



(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 



A. impennis, Linn. (Nutt. Vol. 2, p. 552.) Black; beneath white. Wings short, and unfit for 

 flight. Tail short, rounded, of sixteen feathers. Bill grooved. A large white spot around the 

 eye. Young : bill smooth, and no white spot. Length, 36-0. Newfoundland and northwardly. 



