RAZORBILL. 377 



of the fry of the herring and the coal-fish ; these are often pursued under 

 water with as much dexterity as the Swallow chases an insect in the air. 

 The Razorbill flies under water aided by its webbed feet; it is capable 

 of remaining under the surface for a long time, and when submerged 

 not only catches fish, but searches for crustaceans, mollusks, &c. The 

 note of this bird, which is rarely heard, may be described as a low croaking 

 sound. 



The Razorbill is a rather late breeder, its egg being seldom laid before 

 the middle of May. About the end of March, or early in April, the birds 

 begin to assemble at the familiar breeding-places, and the precipices, rocky 

 islets, and sea around are alive with them. Razorbills probably pair for 

 life, and yearly return to the old niche or cranny to deposit their eggs ; and 

 I have in my collection three remarkably large eggs taken in three suc- 

 cessive years from a hole in one of the Flamborough cliffs ; one of these 

 is represented on the lower figure on Plate 42. If the locality be well 

 suited to it, great numbers of birds breed together on the same range 

 of cliffs, but in less eligible districts the pairs are scattered. The great 

 attraction is the presence of suitable crannies amongst the cliffs where it 

 can lay its egg ; ledges are shunned ; the Razorbill must have a hole if one 

 can possibly be obtained. The eggs are deposited in the cliffs at various 

 heights from the water, but seldom very close to the sea, and generally 

 near the summit. As a rule, in those localities where the birds are abun- 

 dant and can be observed, the Razorbills are seen to cluster on one part of 

 the cliffs, the Guillemots on another, the Puffins generally at the top of all, 

 and the Kittiwakes lowest. Only one egg is laid, sometimes far out of 

 reach in a cleft of the rocks, at other times in a crevice or a niche only a 

 foot or so in depth. Occasionally the bird chooses less likely places. 

 Dixon took an egg from a Puffin-burrow in the turf on the top of Doon, and 

 was told by a native that the bird regularly returned to this particular spot ; 

 whilst Saunders once saw a Razorbill sitting on its egg in the old nest of a 

 Cormorant. Both birds assist in the task of hatching the solitary egg, 

 and incubation lasts about a month, but it is said that the male sometimes 

 feeds the female. 



The eggs of the Razorbill vary very much, but the range of variation, 

 both in the colour and shape of the spots, is not nearly so great as in 

 those of the Guillemot. A remarkable difference between the eggs of 

 these two birds is to be found in the fact that whereas those of the latter 

 species, when viewed through the hole agaiust the light, sometimes appear 

 cream-coloured and sometimes green, the eggs of the Razorbill, when 

 examined in the same way, always look green, though on the surface they 

 never show more than the faintest tint of that colour. The ground- 

 colour of the eggs of the Razorbill varies from pure white to pale reddish 

 brown. The colour of the overlying spots is dark reddish brown, sometimes 



VOL. in. 2 c 



