RAZORBILL. 375 



ALCA TORDA. 

 RAZORBILL. 



(PLATE 42.) 



Alca alca, Briss. On. vi. p. 89 (1760, adult). 



Alca minor, Briss. Om. vi. p. 92 (1760, young). 



Alca torda, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 210 (1766, adult) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



GmeKn, Latham, Temminck, Audubon, Baird, Dresser, Saunders, &c. 

 Alca pica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 210 (1766, young). 

 Alca baltica, Omel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 551 (1788). 



Pinguinus torda (Linn.}, \ ^ , . on /irk/\\ 



' YBonn. Encycl. Mtthod. i. pp. 29, 30 (1790). 

 1 ingmnus pica (Linn.), 1 



Utamania torda (Linn.}, ) - . ~ , ,.- -n . xr 



" > Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. &c. Bnt. Mus. p. 42 (1816). 

 Utamania pica (Linn.), J 



Alca glacialis, Brehm, Vog. Deutsclil. p. 1004 (1831). 

 Chenalopex torda (Linn.), Gray, Hand-l. B. iii. p. 95 (1871). 



The Razorbill is a very common bird on almost all parts of the British 

 coasts that are sufficiently rocky to afford it a suitable place for its nesting- 

 colonies. It is found breeding more or less abundantly on all sea-rocks 

 from Cornwall to Shetland, round the Irish coast, the Channel Islands, 

 and St. Kilda. During winter it strays down the more low-lying 

 coasts, and has been known to wander some distance inland in stormy 

 weather. 



The Razorbill is probably an exclusively North- Atlantic species. It 

 breeds on the coasts of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador, but does 

 not enter Hudson's Bay or Davis Straits. Its range extends eastwards 

 along the coast of Greenland as far north as lat. 70, to Iceland, the 

 Faroes, the British Islands, and the north coast of France. Thence its 

 breeding-grounds are to be found wherever the coast is rocky on the shores 

 of the North Sea and the Baltic, the coasts of Norway and the White Sea, 

 where it was found breeding by Henke on the island of Onega. It 

 reaches the most northern limit of its range at the North Cape, apparently 

 not wandering as far north as Spitzbergen or as far east as Nova Zembla. 

 The statement of Pallas that it is found sparingly on the north coast of 

 Siberia, and abundantly on the shores of Kamtschatka and the Kurile 

 Islands is probably an error, as it is entirely unconfirmed by MiddendorfF, 

 Nordenskiold, or other recent travellers. The only record of its occur- 

 rence in the Pacific is the somewhat doubtful one of a single individual 

 obtained by the Dutch expedition, the ornithological discoveries of which 

 were recorded by Temminck and Schlegel in the ' Fauna Japonica/ To 

 the northern portions of its range it is only a summer visitor, migrating 



