236 ALCID/E. 



to the same species. The cry of the razorbill auk is a kind of 

 croak, harsh and disagreeable; and by an imitation of it, the 

 birds arc drawn out from their lurking-places behind the ledges 

 of rock, by the fowlers. The egg in size and markings resembles 

 that of the guillemot; the young were covered with dark grey 

 down, the bill slightly hooked at the tip, but not presenting the 

 peculiar marks which characterize that of the adult.^^'^ 



Some particulars of this species at Horn Head are noticed 

 under " Puffin." I have been informed that it breeds, westward, 

 on the Bills Rock, off Achil, and that great numbers frequent the 

 Galway and Kerry coasts in summer and autumn ; in the latter, 

 the Magharee islands, Tearaght Eock, and both the Skelligs 

 are among the localities. Smith, in his ' History of Cork,' re- 

 marked that — " The razorbill brings up its young on the ledges 

 of the craggy rocks near the sea," and, in his ' History of Water- 

 ford,' that " they frequent our shores in winter :" the species is 

 noticed also in Eutty's ' Natural History of Dublin :' — on the 

 marine rocks of those counties it still continues to nidify. A 

 correspondent has often shot the young on the Dublin coast in 

 winter, but never the old.t On the 32nd of February and 7th 

 March of different years, I have received- adult birds from the 

 coast of Down, and a month after the latter date, in Dublin. On 

 the coast of Donegal specimens have been obtained in winter, but 

 it is not stated whether old or young; J the same may be said of 

 Bantry Bay. 



The razorbill, like the common guillemot, appears far up 

 Belfast Bay, near to the town, late in spring and autumn, and 

 more especially if the weather be calm. During the summer 

 it is seen about the entrance of the bay. When crossing from 

 Groomsport to the Copeland Islands, on the 16th of July, 1850, 



* At the Mull of Oe, in Islay, the nearest laud northward of Rathlin, razorbills 

 have a breeding-haunt. 



t Mr. R. J. ilontgoinery. One of the young — an Alca pica, or black -billed aulc — 

 is mentioned by Mr. Templeton as received by him in Belfast on the 28lh of January, 

 1811. 



i Mr. J. V. Stewart. 



