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ALCIDiK — TUK AUKS — ALCA. 



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arc taken in the hand. Tlic old birds, when wounded, tlirow thomsolvos on their 

 backs, in the manner of Hawks, and tight desix-rately with their bills and elaws. 

 Tluiy walk on the rocks with considerable cehrity and apparent ease ; when intruded 

 upon, they take to wing as soon as i)ossil)le, and fly around the spot several times 

 before they will again descend; or alight on tlie water and await the departure of 

 the intruder before they ventuni to rc^turn. 



Most writers speak of the Kazor-bill as having but a single egg at a time; but 

 Audubon thinks it occasionally lays two. Tlie eggs are said to average [i.VJ inches 

 in length by 2.13 in breadth. They are generally of a pure white color, nnudi blotched 

 with dark reddish brown or blackish spots, which are usually confluent about tht! 

 larger end. The yolk is orange-ytdlow, and the white tinged with a pale l»lue. Owing 

 to the ditticulty of i)rocuring these eggs — most of them being secreted in deep crev- 

 i(H!s — these birds an^ rarely disturbed by the eggers, who jtlunder the Guillemots 

 much more successfidly. 



This species feeds on the roe of fish, on shrimps, on various small marine animals, 

 and on the smaller Hshes. Its flesh is dark, and not jjrejjossessing in ajii)earance ; 

 but it is considered good by the flshcrmen, and according to Audid)on was found 

 tolerable when cooked in a stew. Tin* bird is said to be two years in accpiiring its 

 full size and the mature form of its bill. When full grown its weight is about a 

 lK)und and a half. After breiMling the birds moult, and are then un;d)ie to fly before 

 the beginning of October, when they niove southward or into the o])en sea. 



According to Yarrell, this bird Inis occasionally ai)peared on the shores of Italy 

 and Sicily ; and the Lond(m Zoological Society has received an immature specimen 

 from Tangier. 



Dr. Iltuny Bryant found it breeding on the northern shores of the Gidf of St. 

 Lawrence. Though abundant, it was less numerous than the Foolish Guillemot, but 

 nuu'h more geiu'rally distributed, breeding in greater or less nund)ers on almost all 

 the rocky islands, even on those at sonu; distance from the ojjcn waters of tlu; (hdf ; 

 this the Urld never does. 



Gt'uerally its eggs van be easily distinguished from those of the Guillemot ; but it 

 occasionally hai)pcns that an egg of the latter is so much like that of the Ila/or-bill 

 that a mistake may be made. Dr. liryant doubts the correctness of Xaumami's stiiti;- 

 ment that the egg of this species may be distinguished by the spots being always 

 shaded on their edges with reddi.sli brown, as he has found eggs of the Guillemot 

 similarly shadcMl. In regard to the nund)er of the eggs of the Razor-bill, Dr. IJryant 

 states that though he has found hundreds of them, he never knew more than one to 

 be laid by the same bird, and in no instance did he ever And anything like a nest. 

 Four eggs selected by Dr. Bryant as average rei)resentatives of siz(^ and shape varied 

 from 2.80 to .'5.29 inches in length, and from 1.71 to 1.9.'{ in breailth. The following 

 are the measurements of each: 2.80 by 1.71 inches; 2.07 by l.O:?; 3.20 by 1.87; 3.17 

 by 1.03. About 3.00 inches aj^jears to be their average length, and about 2.00 the 

 average breadth. 



Dr. Coues, who visited Labrador in ISOO, sent me, on his return, September 20, 

 some interesting notes in regard to this species. lie found it breeding at the first 

 place at which he landed — Sloop Harbor — and jirocured its eggs at Eskimo Bay, 

 the farthest j)oint north visited. They wen- called " Backalaw birds," from their 

 having formerly bred on the island of that name ; but are more commonly known as 

 "Trikers." They do not form such large colonies as the Murres and ruffln.s, but 

 breed in greater or less nundx'rs wherever there is a suitable island — often together 

 with other birds. At I'uttin Islaiul they were in great abundance, laying in deserted 





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