Razor-Bill 517 



of this species is somewhat quaint and amusing : ' They can fish 

 and swim beyond many others, but are very weak at flying or 

 walking, because the legs are placed so very far behind that it is 

 troublesome to move them on land; the bird therefore totters 

 like a drunken man.' On this account is the saying, ' Drunk as 

 an Alk.' I should add that Alca is the Icelandic, and torda the 

 name by which it is known in Gothland. Provincially it is 

 called 'Parrot-billed Willock,' or 'Willy/ In France it is 

 Pingouin macroptere ; in Germany, TordAlk; and in Sweden, 

 Tordmule. The young bird of the year of A. torda was for a 

 long time considered a distinct species, and honest old Bewick 

 describes it (though evidently with some hesitation) under the 

 title of the ' Black-billed Auk ' Alca pica ; but Colonel Montagu 

 has no such scruples, and boldly contends that Dr. Latham in 

 his Synopsis is mistaken in supposing it to be no other than the 

 immature Razor-bilL More careful observation, however, has 

 proved that the doctor was in the right. Mr. Grant, of Devizes, 

 mentions a specimen killed at Melksham early in February, 

 1862 ; and a second, shot by Mr. E. Gibbs at Chitterne at the 

 end of January, 1871 ; also a third killed at Netheravon, January 

 18th, 1866, and a fourth at Salisbury at the close of 1871, all of 

 which came into his hands for preparation. Besides these the 

 Rev. A. P. Morres records that one was picked up by a dairy- 

 man on the downs near Wittsbury, close to Britford, on 

 February 19th, 1883, which was preserved by Mr. White, of 

 Salisbury. 



PELICANID.E (THE PELICANS). 



We pass on to the Pelicans, which is. a high-sounding title ; 

 but the British members of that aristocratic race are but humble 

 and degenerate offshoots of a noble family, and can only claim 

 to rank as remote relations of a lordly house. For the true 

 Pelicans are magnificent birds ; and seen (as I have many a 

 time watched them within the tropics of Upper Egypt and 

 Nubia) proudly sailing on the broad Nile ; or swimming at their 

 best pace down the stream, while my Arab boatmen gave chase - 



