204 BULLETIN 10'7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



toward each other, differing greatly in this respect from the young 

 pufiins, which were continually quarreling. They stood almost 

 upright." The young remain on the cliffs where they were hatched 

 and are fed by their parents until they are about half grown and 

 still unable to fly. The old birds then persuade, induce, or even 

 force them to fly or throw themselves down to the sea, an operation 

 which requires considerable urging on the part of the parents and 

 often results fatally for the young birds, in case they happen to fall 

 on the rocks. Yarrell (1871) quotes from an interesting account 

 given by Mr. Theodore Walker, who has seen this performance in 

 the Hebrides : 



The habits of the razorbill and guillemot are very similar; they both take 

 about three weeks, and four days from the time they are hatched until they 

 leave the islands. When once they are enticed down they do not return to the 

 rocks ; not being full-fledged they could not very well fly up. They generally 

 fly down to the sea before sunrise. I have seen scores fly down to the sea on 

 a fine morning. At the time they leave they are not full-fledged, only the 

 wing and tail being feathered; the neck and line of the spine from the wing 

 to the tail is still downy. I observed one razorbill enticing her young one to 

 follow her down to the sea. I do not think it got any food that day, as it ran 

 about from one bird to another, crying all day and all night ; until nearly day- 

 light it was still crying, but by the time I put out the light it was nowhere 

 to be seen; -doubtless the mother had returned about that time and enticed it 

 off with food. Sometimes when the young one is obstinate, the mother will 

 take it by the back of the neck and fly down to the sea. It is great fun 

 watching the old bird teaching the young one to dive; the mother takes it by 

 the neck and dives with it ; up comes the young one again, only to get another 

 dose; but the young bird can not remain so long under water as the mother, 

 and it often dodges her by diving for an instant. The young birds remain in 

 the sea for one or two days, when they all prepare to leave, the old birds get- 

 ting restless and taking short flights. One can generally tell the night before 

 they leave, as they make such a noise ; should the wind be favorable they take 

 their departure before sunrise In small strings. 



Pl/umages. — ^The downy young is covered with soft thick down, 

 " blackish-brown " basally above, clear " bone brown " on the rump, 

 and paler buffy on the breast; the longer filaments on the upper 

 parts are paler at the tips, grayish white or buffy on the back becom- 

 ing more rufous on the crown; the colors fade, as the chick grows, 

 and the light, downy tips, which give the youngest birds a decidedly 

 hoary appearance and conceal the darker plumage under them, wear 

 away or drop off, exposing the dark, "brownish black" juvenal 

 plumage of the upper parts. Macgillivray (1852) gives an excellent 

 account of the progress toward maturity which I quote, in part, as 

 follows : 



When about a fortnight old the covering is not down, properly so called, 

 but a downy plumage, composed of regularly formed, downy, oblong, very soft, 

 weak feathers, with disunited downy filaments; those on the head and neck 

 extremely soft, on the lower parts a little firmer, and on the upper somewhat 



