474 ALCAD^J. 



salient angle. Nostrils lateral, marginal, linear, near the middle of the beak, the 

 aperture almost entirely closed by a membrane covered with feathers. Legs 

 short, abdominal ; only three toes, all in front, entirely united by membrane ; 

 claws but slightly curved. Wings short, tail pointed. 



THE RAZOR-BILL so closely resembles the Common Guille- 

 mot in the localities it frequents ; in the time of its move- 

 ments ; in its manners, habits, and food ; in its general 

 colours and appearance, and the seasonal changes of its 

 plumage ; that the history of the one species, given at page 

 450, is the history of the other, and repetition would be 

 useless. The egg of the Razor-bill, however, differs in size, 

 form, and colour ; it wants the lengthened pear shape of 

 that of the Guillemot, as well as its agreeable green colour ; 

 it measures only two inches and three-quarters in length, 

 by one inch and ten lines in breadth ; the ground colour is 

 white, blotched and spotted with red-brown, and blackish- 

 brown. The bird is abundant on most of the islands of 

 the Arctic Seas, and the Zoological Society have received a 

 young bird in its first winter-dress from Tangiers ; it also 

 appears occasionally in winter on the shores of Italy and 

 Sicily, but this is the farthest southern range I am able to 

 quote for it. 



Both sexes are alike in plumage, and in summer the beak 

 is black, with three transverse grooves, and one white line 

 on the upper mandible, two transverse grooves and a white 

 line on the lower mandible ; from the top of the beak to 

 each eye there is a well-defined streak of pure white ; irides 

 dark brown ; the whole of the head, chin, throat, hind 

 neck, back, wings, and tail black ; the tips of the secon- 

 dary quill-feathers, the breast, and all the under surface of 

 the body pure white ; legs, toes, and their membranes 

 brownish-black ; whole length about seventeen inches ; 

 wing, from the wrist seven inches and a half. 



