or lesser interval they extend in an irregular series from the out- 

 most extremities of the Lofotens Vaero and Rost, up along the 

 coast of Tromso to Fuglo and Loppen ; thence they make their 

 appearance to the eastward in Stappen near North Cape; in 

 Svaerholtklubben in Porsanger ; and in several crags on the 

 Varanger peninsula to Horno by Vardo ; and on the south side 

 of Varangerfjord near the Russian frontier. 



What an inexhaustible field for observations, these bird rocks 

 would be, if we could only pay longer visits to them. 



It is well-known that among the rock-fowl both the Razor-bill 

 (Alca torda), and the common Guillemot (Lomvia troile)* lay their 

 single, and in proportion to the size of the bird colossal egg, 

 on a projecting ledge in the precipitous face of the cliff, either 

 quite in the open, or under a projecting slab of stone. The Puffin 

 (Fratercula arctica) on the contrary, digs with its sharp claws, a 

 long horizontal passage in the soft stratum of earth on the slopes 

 of the cliff, between the luxuriant clumps of Cochlearia (scurvy- 

 grass) and other coast plants : showing a considerable difference 

 in the choice of a nesting-place between two so closely allied 

 forms. 



But the difference is even greater, if one looks at the young 

 which issue from these eggs. The Razor-bill produces an 

 almost entirely naked thing, which, when the mother is away 

 from it, is obliged to balance itself, as best it can, upon the narrow 

 ledge of cliff, exposed to the icy north wind, and frequently 

 drenched by a snow squall or a cold rain. From the Puffin's egg, 

 which lies some yard-and-a-half deep down in the close and 

 sheltered tunnel, there comes a chick, clad in a downy covering 

 so loose and fluffy, that it resembles a living ball of down, from 

 which a beak and feet project. 



The reason for this difference between the young of the two 

 species is hard to understand. It is one of the many unanswered 

 questions, to which the economy of nature can give rise so 

 abundantly. 



Where the space is scanty, the Razor-bills and Guillemots 



* These two birds are respectively known in Norwegian as the Broad- 

 billed-, and the Pointed-billed-, Alke ; the latter is also called the Lomvi. 

 Transl. 



