BAZOKBILL 471 



youngsters when they receive their first ducking in the 

 briny deep. I have heard them crying in piteous accents 

 for their fond parents, who, out of their sight in the depths 

 beneath, were diligently pursuing fish to feed them. Soon 

 the young, however, acquire a knowledge of diving, and with 

 a certain air of independence, follow their parents far out to 

 sea. It has been observed that sometimes the old bird will 

 dive, directly the young one reaches the water and come up 

 under its offspring, which, hoisted on the parent's back, 

 sits securely there, until carried out to sea (E. M. 

 McCarron). 



Geographical distribution. Abroad, the Eazorbill breeds 

 in the Faroes, Iceland, Scandinavia, and other countries of 

 Northern and Temperate Europe, as high as lat. 71 N., 

 and southward to Brittany. Eastward its breeding-grounds 

 do not extend to Asia, but westward they reach Greenland 

 and the eastern sea-board of Canada. In winter it is 

 found scattered over the European Seas, including the 

 Mediterranean, and in large numbers in the North Atlantic 

 Ocean, down to lat. 30 N. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head, hind-neck, 

 back, scapulars, and upper tail-coverts, glossy greenish-black ; 

 sides of face, chin, and throat, brownish-black ; fore-neck, 

 breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts, white ; primaries, 

 dark brown ; secondaries, dark brown, tipped with white, 

 forming a narrow alar bar; tail (of 12 feathers), dark 

 brownish-black and wedge-shaped ; a thin white line ex- 

 tends from the base of the beak to the front of the eye. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar in plumage to the male. 



Adult winter, male and female. Cheeks, chin, throat, 

 front of neck, and sides of the head behind the eye, white ; 

 the narrow white stripe between tbe beak and the eye is 

 absent ; scapulars and feathers of the back, only faintly 

 glossed. 



Immature, male and female. Resembles the adult 

 winter-plumage, but the white line from the beak to the 

 eye is very indistinct. 



BEAK. Black ; rather deep and laterally compressed, 

 and exhibiting a large distinct white transverse furrow and 

 several smaller ones in front of it near the tip. The beak 

 of the immature bird is smooth and shallow. 



FEET. Black ; no hind-toe. 



IB IDES. Dark brown. 



