258 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



but they are most efficient aids to the bird in its progress 

 beneath the water. The length of the bird is nearly three 

 feet, 



THE RAZOR-BILL AUK. Alca torda. The Eazor-bill 

 may be included among the species which are numerous in 

 all suitable localities along our coasts, from one extremity 

 of Britain to the other ; and out of Britain it is very exten- 

 sively distributed. Like the Common Guillemot, it breeds 

 in the lofty and rocky cliffs of our sea-coast, and lays its 

 single egg either upon the bare ledge of the precipice or 

 within some hole or fissure of the cliff. The eggs are not 

 equal in size to those of the Common Guillemot, nor are 

 they of the same lengthened and pear-shaped form, but are 

 shorter, and rounder at the smaller end ; usually they are 

 of a yellowish-white spotted and blotched with grey and 

 with reddish and blackish brown. Some of the eggs of 

 this species are very beautiful, but they vary in the rich- 

 ness of their marking. (PL XVII. fig. 103.) 



THE PUFFIN. Fratercula Arctica. The Puffin is found 

 along our coasts, where suitable breeding- places occur, from 

 the Isle of Wight to the Orkney and Shetland Islands ; but 

 it is only a summer visitant. It sometimes breeds in fis- 

 sures of rocks, but more frequently in holes or burrows 



