630 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



the cold and temperate climates of the northern hemi- 

 sphere. It breeds in the arctic regions, generally on the 

 'margin of lakes, or on islands, laying three eggs of a 

 dull olive" tint spotted with dusky. " Far out at sea in 

 winter," says Nuttall, " and in the great western lakes, 

 particularly Huron and Michigan, in summer, I have 

 often heard, on a fine calm morning, the sad and wolfish 

 call of the solitary loon, which like a dismal echo seems 

 slowly to invade the ear, and rising as it proceeds, dies 

 away in the air. This boding sound to mariners, suppos- 

 ed to be indicative of a storm, may be heard sometimes 

 for two or three miles, when the bird itself is invisible, or 

 reduced almost to a speck in the distance. The abori- 

 gines, nearly as superstitious as sailors, dislike to hear 

 the cry of the loon, considering the bird, from its shy and 

 extraordinary habits, as a sort of supernatural being. By 

 the Norwegians its long-drawn howl is, with more appear- 

 ance of reason, supposed to portend rain.'' The flesh of 

 this bird is dark and unpalatable ; but its skin, with the 

 feathers on, is used by various barbarous tribes as an arti- 

 cle of clothing. 



Two other species, of inferior size, the red-throated di- 

 ver, C. septentrionalis, and the black-throated, C. arcticus, 

 inhabit the same regions, and are nearly similar in ha- 

 bits. Both these birds breed in some of the northern parts 

 of Scotland. 



The guillemots, genus Uria, have the bill of moderate 

 length, robust, straight, compressed, and pointed; the 

 nostrils nearly basal, lateral, linear, and partially covered 

 by short feathers. The head is rather large and oblong, 

 the neck short. The legs are placed far back, and their 

 feet differ from those of the divers in wanting the hind 

 toe. Their wings are short, narrow, and pointed ; but 

 they fly with considerable speed, and their tail is very 

 short and rounded. These birds migrate in small flocks, 

 and collect in vast assemblages to breed on the abrupt 

 precipices and rocky islands of the northern seas, whence 

 they again retire towards the end of autumn. They form 

 no nest, but deposit their single egg, which is pyriform 

 and of great size, on the bare rock. 



The common guillemot, Uria troile, is somewhat less 

 than the mallard, and has the bill longer than the head ; 

 its upper parts are black, the lower white, as are the tips 

 of the secondary quills ; in summer the head is brown, and 

 the adult has a black stripe behind the eye. This spe- 

 cies is very abundant along the northern coasts of Eu- 

 rope and America, and nowhere more so than in the Bri- 

 tish seas. 



• Another species, about the same size, but distinguishable 

 by having the bill shorter and much more robust, is the 

 thick-billed guillemot, Uria Brunnichii, which also occurs 

 in the northern seas of both continents, but does not ex- 

 tend so far south as the former. 



The Greenland dove, or little guillemot of authors, has 

 been considered by some as constituting a distinct genus, 

 to which Cuvier has given the name of Cephus. It is 

 about the size of a large pigeon, and is entirely black, ex- 

 cepting a large white space on the middle of the wing, and 

 the feet, which are red. This species, unlike those men- 

 tioned above, breeds under stones or in the crevices of 

 rocks, where it lays two or three light-coloured eggs, 

 spotted with dusky. It is frequent in the northern seas, 

 and breeds on the Scottish coasts in great numbers. 



2d. The auks, — Alcada, which form the next group, are 

 very closely allied to the guillemots, from which they are 

 easily distinguished by their extremely compressed and 

 vertically elevated bill, which is usually transversely fur- 

 rowed. The toes are entirely webbed, but the hind toe 

 is wanting, as in the guillemots, which they further re- 

 semble in their habits and distribution. This tribe may 

 be divided into several subordinate genera. 



The puffins, genus Fratercula, have the bill shorter 

 than the head, and as high at the base as it is long, a cir- 

 cumstance which gives these birds an extraordinary ap- N 

 pearance, and has given rise to the appellations of coulter- 

 nebs and parrot-bills, vulgarly applied to them. At the 

 base of the bill there is generally an elevated fold of bare 

 skin ; and the nostrils, which are close to the margin, are 

 mere slits. The puffins fly with rapidity, in a direct line, 

 at the height of only a few feet over the waves ; swim and 

 dive with extreme dexterity ; and nestle in the crevices 

 of rocks, or more generally in holes formed by themselves 

 in the turf. 



The species best known and most extensively distribut- 

 ed is the common puffin, Fratercula arclica, which is of 

 the size of a pigeon or jackdaw, with the upper parts dusky, 

 the lower white, a broad black band round the neck, the 

 bill red, with three grooves across each mandible. It is 

 abundant on the northern coasts of Europe and America, 

 where it breeds in burrows formed by itself in the soil of 

 unfrequented islands and headlands, making no proper 

 nest, and laying a single whitish and pyriform egg. 



Another species, having a still more singular appear- 

 ance, on account of two tufts of silky feathers on its head, 

 inhabits the shores of Kamtschatka, the Kurile Isles, and 

 others lying between Asia and America. The skins are 

 employed by the natives as an article of clothing. 



Some species having the bill less elevated, somewhat 

 quadrangular, and notched near the tip, have been distin- 

 guished by M. Temminck under the generic name of Pha- 

 leris. Of these may be mentioned the Ph. psittacula, 

 and Ph. cristatella, both inhabitants of the north-western 

 coast of America, Kamtschatka, and the Kurile Isles. 



The auks properly so called, or restricted genus Alca, 

 have the bill more elongated, and in shape somewhat re- 

 sembling the blade of a common pocket-knife, its base being 

 feathered as far as the nostrils. As an example of the er- 

 rors into which persons little conversant with living birds 

 may fall, may be adduced the following statement of Cu- 

 vier with regard to the auks : " Their wings are decidedly 

 too small to sustain them, and they do not fly at all." So 

 far is this from being the case with our common species, 

 that it flies with as much celerity as the guillemot and 

 puffin, and in its ordinary flight outstrips the gulls and 

 terns, although these birds fly with greater buoyancy. 

 The statement, however, is correct as applying to the 

 great auk, which might perhaps with propriety be referred 

 to a separate genus. 



The species so common on our coasts, as well as on 

 those of Europe and North America, is the razor-billed 

 auk, Alca torda, which is about the size of the common 

 guillemot, and similarly coloured, being black above and 

 white beneath, with a white band on the wing, and a line 

 or two of the same colour on the bill. 



The great auk, Alca impennis, is the largest bird of this 

 family, equalling a goose in size. Its colour is similar to 

 that of the common species ; but its bill, which is marked 

 with eight or ten grooves, is entirely black, and it has an 

 oval white spot between the bill and the eye. Its wings 

 are reduced to a kind of paddles, and are similar to those 

 of the penguins, so that it does not possess the faculty of 

 flying. It inhabits the highest latitudes of the globe, but 

 is extremely rare, so that specimens are of very unfre- 

 quent occurrence in collections, and the only one in this 

 country is that of the British Museum. A few instances 

 have occurred of its being seen on the northern coasts of 

 Scotland. In the northern seas this remarkable bird 

 seems to represent the species of the next group, which 

 belong to the other extremity of the globe. 



3d. The penguins, — Aptenodidts, are entirely destitute 

 of the faculty of flying, their wings being converted into 

 small, oblong, flattened paddles or fins, covered with mi- 



