BAZOR-BILL. 171 



The old birds shew much attachment to their young. The 

 latter are able in July to provide for themselves, but the 

 descent to the sea is not always accomplished with safety. 

 It sometimes happens that in throwing themselves down from 

 the edge of the cliff, to which they are led by their parents, 

 and instructed, as it were almost what to do, they fail in 

 clearing every obstacle below, and the force of the fall in 

 such case is fatal. They lay towards the end of May or the 

 beginning of June. 



The egg is subject to almost endless variety. Its prevailing 

 colour is white, blotted and spotted with blackish brown and 

 reddish brown. 



Male; weight, about twenty-seven ounces; length, one foot 

 five inches or over; bill, black, with three grooves following 

 the profile of the front of the upper mandible, and one 

 white curved streak arising from it and meeting the like 

 one on the opposite side, and two grooves and a white line 

 on the lower one; from the top of the base of the upper 

 bill a clear streak of white slants backwards and upwards 

 to the eye. The bill is much hooked at the tip; the inside 

 of the mouth is yellow; iris, dark brown. Head on the 

 sides, paler, and on the crown, neck, and nape, darker 

 brownish black, becoming more brown in tint as the summer 

 advances. Chin and throat, the same, but paler. Breast, 

 white; back, deep brownish black. 



The wings expand to the width of two feet three inches; 

 greater and lesser wing coverts, black; primaries, black, the 

 outer webs with a shade of grey; secondaries, black, tipped 

 with white, which forms a narrow streak across the wing; 

 tertiaries, black; greater and lesser under wing coverts, white. 

 The tail is wedge-shaped, the two middle feathers being 

 considerably longer than the others, and narrowed towards 

 the tip; upper tail coverts, black; under tail coverts, white. 

 Legs and toes, dusky black; webs, dusky black. 



The female is of like plumage as the male. 



The young bird at first has the bill plain, and is without 

 the white line between the bill and the eye, but acquires 

 it, though indistinctly, the end of the year. Head and crown, 

 dull black, streaked with a few plumes of white. The sides 

 of the head, chin, and throat are white, and the neck in 

 front is streaked with a few black filaments, and behind 

 with a few white ones. Back, dull black. 



