516 Alcadce. 



Rennet on the 25th of October ; the other was subsequently 

 picked up dead, and was in so emaciated a condition as to imply 

 that it had died of starvation. Another instance is given by the 

 Kev. A. P. Morres, who says that a bird of the year, but of full 

 size, was brought to him in the winter of 1863, which a carter 

 had caught on a high-lying fallow in the parish of Britford, and 

 which had bitten his fingers so severely that in exasperation he 

 killed it. Mr. Grant records another specimen killed at Salis- 

 bury, December 28th, 1871, which came into his hands for 

 preservation; while the Maryborough College Natural History 

 Keports mention two seen at a pond near the Warren at St. 

 Catharine's, Savernake Forest, one of which was captured on 

 November 21, 1879. In France it is Macareux moine ; in 

 Germany, Arktische oder Graukehliger Alk ; in Norway, Lunne 

 Fogel ; in Spain, Cagafet ; in Portugal, Papagaio do mar. 



216. RAZOR-BILL (Alca torda). 



Here we have another species which abounds on our coasts, 

 though perhaps not in quite such overpowering numbers as 

 either of those mentioned above. It partakes of the same habits 

 on sea and land as its congeners, breeding with the Guillemots 

 on the ledges of cliffs, and showing itself equally expert in diving 

 and swimming. For this constant immersion in the sea they 

 need waterproof clothing, and the plumage with which they are 

 provided is very thick and close-set, and quite impervious to the 

 action of water. The adult birds are furnished with a bill par- 

 taking, in some degree, of the character of that of the Puffin 

 that is to say, it is much compressed and curved and grooved 

 towards the point. Like other birds with largely developed 

 beaks as the Hoopoe, Crossbill, Spoonbill, etc. that feature in 

 the Razor- Bills and Puffins when first hatched is quite narrow, 

 and for some time shows no sign of the transverse furrow which 

 it afterwards assumes. When it takes wing, which it does with 

 evident reluctance, it invariably flies low, just above the surface 

 of the water: and, like the Guillemots, it carries its young on its 

 back from the cliffs to the sea. Bishop Pontoppidan's account 



