THE RAZOR-BILL. 297 



which is always greater in proportion as the weather is more 

 severe. 



THE AUKS (Alca). 



The birds of this genus live almost exclusively in the water, 

 and are not so much seen upon the wing, their wings being 

 in general small, and in some of the species, not fit for the 

 purposes of flight. The characters are the bill straight, 

 flattened, much curved at the tip ; both mandibles feathered 

 for the half of their lengths, the upper one hooked, and the 

 under with a sharp angular point acting against the hook ; 

 the upper mandible grooved nearly to the tip, and the nos- 

 trils lateral, almost entirely covered with membrane, and 

 hidden under the feathers near the distal extremity of the 

 feathered half of the mandible. The legs are very short, 

 placed far backwards ; furnished with three toes, all turned 

 forward, and completely connected by a web. As is the case 

 with most sea-birds that remain in the cold latitudes, they 

 are subject to seasonal changes of plumage, though these can 

 hardly be considered as sexual, or depending on sexual causes ; 

 and the plumage of the two sexes differs little at any season. 

 There are two species which may be considered British birds, 

 the razor-bill, which is common on many parts of the coast, 

 and the great auk, which appears in few localities, and is not 

 so abundant even in these. 



THE RAZOR-BILL (Alca torda). 



The size of this bird, when full grown, is about sixteen or 

 seventeen inches in length, twenty-seven in the spread of the 

 wings, and it weighs from twenty to twenty-two ounces. It 

 is a bird of the northern seas, but distributes itself along the 

 shores for the purpose of breeding, which it does in the most 

 lofty and precipitous rocks ; the single egg, which is white 

 spotted with black, being deposited, without any nest, upon 



