THE RAZORBILL. 337 



we saw numbers of these birds, both on the water and on 

 wing ; — flying just above the surface, and in single file, when a few 

 only were together. They were chiefly in little parties of from two 

 to seven ; but one flock of about thirty birds appeared, two-thirds 

 of which only proceeded in a single line. Such are their usual 

 modes of flight, according to numbers. We were interested by 

 observing a young bird of the year (the only one seen) in 

 company with its parent, with which it kept pace in swimmiug 

 and diving, though only half adult size. They admitted the ap- 

 proach of our boat within from twenty-five to forty yards before 

 diving or taking wing. Birds thus frequenting the open sea may 

 have their nests at the Gobbins, Ailsa, or other places to which 

 they have a direct flight above the water, but during the breeding 

 season some may also be observed in land-locked localities, such as 

 Strangford Lough, &c. We saw but one common guillemot to- 

 day, which was on wing in company with a razorbill. Just after 

 the breeding season in 1831, birds of this species were very 

 plentiful, and appeared as far up the estuary as within three miles 

 of the town ; — many were shot ; a number killed with oars ; and 

 some run down by boating parties, and captured with the hand. 

 Four specimens, shot here on the 28th of September, were found 

 to contain only the remains of fish. 



The head of an adult razorbill, shot in the month of June 

 1838, at the extremity of Lough Derg, near Portumna, was sent 

 to me, as that of a bird quite unknown to the people there. It 

 was, indeed, the first instance known to myself of the occurrence 

 of the species on fresh-water, in Ireland. This specimen was said 

 to have exhibited no appearance of having previously been wounded. 



Montagu, writing from Devonshire, remarks that "the razor- 

 bill is not seen with us in winter,^'' and Selby observes, with re- 

 gard to the birds bred in Great Britain, that " in winter their 

 place is supplied in Scotland, and sparingly also along the Eng- 

 lish coast, from the colonies that breed in higher latitudes^^ 

 (p. 436). Audubon gives a good personal narrative of his visits 

 to the razorbill's breeding-haunts on the coast of North America 

 (vol. iii. p. 113). 



