244 BIRDS. 



22d, 1850. Mr. B. Ranken shot one at Gr&meshall, Holm, in 

 February 1860, which he presented to the Kirkwall Museum. 

 Mr. Moodie-Heddle got one in the Pentland Firth in the 

 summer of 1872, and has since seen several at sea to the N.W. 

 of Hoy Sound. 



Mr. Harvey tells us that Fulmars or "Mallimacks " are seen 

 near the coast of Sanday in July. 



Mr. James Barnett, Crown Chamberlain, found a specimen 

 lying dead in Pickagarry on October 18th, 1877, killed by 

 striking the telegraph wire in a storm the previous night. 

 Another was caught in Sanday in February 1883 (Spence). 



Harvie-Brown saw a solitary Fulmar in July 1889, which 

 circled once round his yacht when on a visit to Stack. It had 

 the grey mantle with slightly darker markings on the back. 



Order 7. A L C -2E. 

 Family ALCIDJE. 



Alca torda, L. Razorbill, 



Orc.=Auk. Bankie (Low). 



A common summer visitant, breeding in most of the islands suit- 

 able to them. A few remain the winter, or at least as late as 

 the beginning of December, as on the 8th of that month in 

 1883, Buckley shot two which were either immature or in winter 

 plumage. The bill was much smaller than in summer, and had 

 no white line ; the throat was white, and the line from the eye 

 to the bill very indistinct. 



When on the water Razorbills show more of their bodies 

 than the Guillemot, and they erect their sharp-pointed tails. 

 When carrying a single fish, both this species and the Guillemot 

 hold it horizontally, head inwards, the tail hanging out over 

 one side, and one can see the fish distinctly glistening in the 

 sun between the partially closed mandibles. 



At one time " Auks " were a marketable commodity in the 

 Orkneys, especially in Papa Westray, where, by means of nets 

 large enough to cover the mouth of the geo, Mr. Traill of 



