534 DIVING BIRDS. 



wings and its relatively shorter beak, in which there are but two or three grooves 

 on the lower mandible, and these indistinctly marked. Lacking the large white 

 spot in front of the eye characterising the great auk, the adult razorbill in summer 

 has a narrow white line extending from the beak to the eye. While in summer 

 the chin and throat of the adult are brown, and the head, hind-neck, and upper- 

 parts black, with the under-pai-ts white, in the winter dress the white extends 

 upwards to the throat, chin, and sides of the head, and the plumage of the upper- 

 parts is browner. The razorbill is common to the coasts and islands of both sides 

 of the North Atlantic, ranging as far north as latitude 70° in Greenland, while 

 in winter it reaches Gibraltar, from whence it wanders a considerable distance up 

 the Mediterranean. Resident throughout the year in the British seas, it breeds on 

 all suitable rocky coasts, from the nortli of France to the Noi-th Cape, generally in 

 large colonies. Concerning its breeding-habits, we find it stated in the third 

 edition of Yarrell's British Birds that "about the middle or latter part of March 

 in the South of England, and early in April in the northern portions of our islands, 

 the razorbills, guillemots, and puffins converge to particular points, where, from 

 the numbers that congregate, and the bustle apparent among them, confusion of 

 interests might be expected. It will, however, be found that, as a rule, the 

 guillemots occupy one station or line of ledges on the rock ; the razorbills another ; 

 the puffins a third ; the kittiwake-guUs a fourth ; whilst the most inaccessible crags 

 seem to be left for the use of the herring-gulls. The razorbills generally select 

 the higher and rougher ledges, and they are partial to crevices, their eggs being 

 sometimes deposited so far in that it is no easy matter to get at them ; at other 

 times they lay their eggs on the broader shelves along with the guillemots, but 

 not so closely together." 



Closely allied, both as regards structure, the colour, and seasonal 

 Ouillemots. '' ** i • i i -n 



chance of their plumage, and habits, to the razorbills, the guillemots 



difier by their more slender and straighter beak, in which there are no oblique 

 transverse grooves, while the upper mandible is slightly curved near the point, 

 and has a small notch on the side. The basal nostrils are partially closed by a 

 membrane, which is itself partly feathered. There is still some degree of 

 uncertainty as to the number of species of the typical guillemots, some writers, 

 like Mr. Seebohm, recognising but one, while others, like Dr. Sharpe, admit 

 several. Whether, however, we regard them as species or varieties, all the forms 

 are characterised by the white plumage of the under-parts ; this white area in 

 the summer dress stopping short at the base of the throat, but in winter extending 

 upwards, as in the razorbill, to the throat, chin, and sides of the head. In the 

 typical form of the common guillemot ( Uria troile) which inhabits both sides of 

 the North Atlantic, the beak is of considerable length, and the head is of a 

 uniform smoky brown. It is replaced in the Pacific by a somewhat larger form, 

 known as the Californian guillemot. Both in the Atlantic and Pacific there are 

 also certain guillemots, like the one in the foreground of the cut, characterised 

 by the presence of a white streak extending backwards from the eye, and a white 

 ring round the eye itself. Formerly regarded as indicating a distinct species, 

 these ringed guillemots, as they are commonly called, are now generally con- 

 sidered to be merely sports. Pallas's guillemot, of Behring Sea and other parts 



