216 ALCIX.E. ALCA. 



dense, longitudinally plicate ; intestine moderate ; coeca 

 small. Nostrils linear-oblong, marginal, medial. Eyes 

 small. Apertures of ears very small. Head large, ovate, 

 anteriorly compressed ; neck short and thick ; body full, ra- 

 ther depressed. Feet short, placed far behind, lower part 

 of tibia bare ; tarsus very short, stout, compressed, scutellate 

 in front ; hind toe wanting ; anterior toes of moderate 

 length, the inner shortest, all connected by entire webs ; 

 claws rather small, arcuate, compressed, pointed. Plumage 

 dense, very soft, blended ; wings small, narrow, acute ; tail 

 very short, rounded, of twelve or more feathers. 



The Auks are precisely similar to the Guillemots in their 

 habits. One species is of frequent occurrence along our 

 coasts, breeding in the same places as the foolish Guillemot, 

 and afterwards dispersing over the seas. Another species, 

 the Great Auk, which some place in a separate genus, is met 

 with very rarely on the northern coasts of Scotland. 



283. ALCA TOEDA. RAZOR-BILLED AUK. 



Length about seventeen inches ; wings reaching to the 

 middle of the tail, which has twelve feathers ; bill with four 

 transverse grooves, one of which is white. Adult in summer 

 with the head and upper part of the neck all round brownish- 

 black, the upper parts greenish-black, the lower white ; a 

 narrow line from the bill to the eye, and the terminal mar- 

 gins of the secondary quills white. In winter, the upper part 

 of the head and nape greyish-black, the throat and sides of 

 the head white, with a dusky band behind the eye, the other 

 parts nearly as in summer. Young at first coloured like the 

 adult in summer, afterwards like the adult in winter, but al- 

 ways distinguishable by having the bill smaller, much less 

 elevated, without grooves, and black. 



Male, 17^, 28, 8 T %, 1 T V, 1J, 1^, T V ^ Female, 16J, 27. 



In autumn great numbers of Razor-bills appear on the bays 

 and estuaries of all parts of Scotland and England. They 

 advance southward as the cold increases, and almost entirely 

 desert the northern parts, unless when shoals of young fishes 

 are on the coast. Toward the end of spring they proceed in 

 parties to their breeding-places, which are abrupt headlands 

 or rocks on unfrequented islands, and on which they settle, 

 along with the Guillemots and Kittiwakes. Their single 

 egg is extremely large, oblong, somewhat pyriform, three 

 inches or a little less in length, white, greyish, or brownish- 



