The Razorbill. 1 3 i 



Guillemot) in heavy gales, is largely due, in most cases, to the birds being 

 weakened by want of food, those washed ashore being usually very thin ; and the 

 Razorbill, although it occasionally gets enormously fat, like other fish-eating birds, 

 is probably capable of only a very short fast. Heavy gales from seaward at the 

 close of summer, before the birds have completed their moult, are also destructive ; 

 but probably some difficulty which the Razorbill experiences in procuring food 

 while the sea is much agitated, largely accounts for the great mortality which 

 occasionally takes place among the individuals of this species. 



The Razorbill has a great many local names ; the following have been culled 

 from various ancient and modern authors : — Murre, Marrot, Falk, Oke, Willock, 

 Parrot-billed Willock, Tinkershire, Skort. In winter dress it was the Black-billed 

 Auk of the older authors. At Flamborough it is known as the Auk, which is, of 

 course, a form of the modern Norsk Alke. 



The adult in summer has the iris brown; bill compressed and much arched, 

 black, the upper mandible crossed by a white line, immediately behind which is a 

 well-defined ridge, and the anterior portion of the bill is crossed by two furrows. 

 The lower mandible is crossed by a white line and two shallow and indistinct 

 furrows. Chin, throat, lores, upper part of the fore neck and sides of neck very 

 dark velvety brown ; rest of the head, neck, back, wings and tail black, with a 

 slight greenish gloss. From the base of the culmen a narrow clearly defined white 

 line extends to the eye; tips of the secondaries and all the rest of the under 

 parts white, which extends on to the fore part of the lower neck. The tail is 

 longer than that of the Guillemot, and wedge-shaped. Legs and feet blackish. 



In winter the upper parts are usually duller ; the chin, throat (a small portion 

 along the edge of the lower mandible remains dark), sides and fore part of the 

 neck, lower face and sides of the head are white, more or less mottled on the last 

 with dusky, the light colour extending on to the sides of the nape ; legs and toes 

 dusky black, brownish on inside of tarsus and inner toe ; membranes dusky black ; 

 inside of mouth pale yellowish-buff. Length about 16*75 to J 8 inches; wing 7-5 

 inches. 



In a young bird killed in January, the white line on the head is indistinct, 

 the bill is much smaller (the line of the culmen only rising slightly from its base) 

 than in the adult, and is without the white line and grooves. By the following 

 September the culmen has become more arched, and the bill is grooved at the 

 base, although much less markedly so than in the adult. 



The clearly defined pure white line from the bill to the eye appears for the 

 most part to pertain to the summer dress only. 



The bird probably does not breed until its second spring at least. 



