RAZOR-BILLED AUK. 39 



next report came from Toronto, where about thirty were killed, and 

 finally, early in December, I obtained three which were found on 

 Hamilton Bay so much reduced and exhausted for lack of proper 

 food, that they were taken alive by the hand. I believe that about 

 fifty were captured altogether. This is the only occasion on which 

 I have heard of these birds appearing in Ontario, except the one 

 mentioned at the beginning of this notice. 



Genus ALCA Linnveus. 

 ALGA TORDA (Linn.). 



11. Razor-billed Auk. (32) 



A dull, in summer : — Upper parts, black, glossed with green ; head and neck, 

 brownish-black, without gloss; tips of the secondaries and all the lower parts, 

 white ; a white line from the eye to the base of the culmen ; feet, black ; mouth, 

 yellow; eye, bluish. Length, about 18 inches; wing, about 7.75. 



In winter, the white covers the throat and encroaches on the sides of the 

 head. 



Hab. — Coasts and islands of north Atlantic. South in winter, along the 

 coast to New England. 



Nest, none. 



Eggs, one or two, deposited in caverns or deep fissures of the rocks ; creamy- 

 white, spotted and blotched with black toward the larger end. 



The first notice we have of the occurrence of this species in 

 Ontario is in the published proceedings of the Canadian Institute, 

 where Mr. Wm. Cross reports the capture of a specimen in Toronto 

 Bay, on the 10th December, 1889. 



A second specimen was shot off the beach at the west end of Lake 

 Ontario, in November, 1891. This was afterwards mounted, and 

 is now in possession of Captain Armstrong, who resides near the 

 Hamilton reservoir. 



This species keeps close to the sea coast. It has not been observed 

 at Ottawa, and is not named among the birds found by Dr. Bell at 

 Hudson's Bay. 



We can only account for the presence of these isolated individuals 

 in Lake Ontario by supposing that they have been driven from their 

 usual habitat by an easterly blow. 



