RAZOR-BILLED AUK. 117 



ticulated entire membranes, the inner toe having also a projecting mar- 

 gin ; outer toe slightly longer than middle one ; inner considerably shorter. 

 Claws rather small, arched, compressed, obtuse. 



Plumage close, blended, very soft, on the head very short and velvety. 

 Wings short, curved, narrow, acute. Primary quills narrow, incurved, 

 acute, first longest, second slightly shorter, the rest rapidly graduated ; 

 secondary quills very short, obliquely rounded. Tail short, tapering, of 

 twelve narrow, pointed feathers. 



Bill black, with a white line across each mandible ; inside of the 

 mouth gamboge-yellow. Iris deep hazel. Feet black. Fore part of 

 neck below, and. all the lower parts, white; the rest black, the head, 

 hind neck, and back, glossed with olive-green, the throat and sides of 

 the neck tinged with chocolate, the wings with brown, the tips of the se- 

 condary quills, and a narrow line from the bill to the eye, white. 



Length to the end of tail 17 inches, to the end of claws 17|; extent 

 of wings 29i ; wing from flexure 8|, tail 4; bill along the ridge 1^'^g, 

 along the edge2^^g, its greatest depth \l ; tarsus 1/j, middle toe 1/g, its 

 claw /g. Weight 1| pound. 



Adult Female in summer. Plate CCXIV. Fig. 2. 

 The female is precisely similar to the male. 



The Young in their winter plumage have the colouring distributed 

 as in the old birds, but with the black duller, the wings more brown, the 

 throat and sides of the head mottled with white, the white line from the 

 bill to the eye existing, but the bill much smaller, without furrows or a 

 white line. 



The Old Birds in winter have the throat and sides of the neck mottled 

 as described above ; but in other respects their colours are the same as 

 in summer. 



The gullet wide, dilated towards the lower extremity, its mucous 

 coat longitudinally corrugated ; the proventriculus very wide and glan- 

 dular ; the stomach rather small, oblong, muscular, with an inner, longi- 

 tudinally corrugated and horny cuticular coat. Pylorus very small ; in- 

 testine near its commencement j\ of an inch in diameter, gradually con- 

 tracted to the caeca, where it is /^ ; caeca half an inch long, tapering. The 

 length of the gullet and stomach together is 8, that of the intestine 41 inches. 



