402 



EECURVIROSTRA. 



breast are white ; the tail is cuneiform, consisting of twelve pointed 

 feathers, the two middle of which exceed the rest considerably in 

 length; legs dusky -black. *In young birds the chin is freckled with 

 white ; the bill nearly smooth, and without the white band ; the stripe 

 of white before the eyes being distinct. * 



The Razor-Bill is not seen with us in winter, but repairs to our 

 rocky coasts in the spring, and begins to deposit its single egg (which is 

 of a dirty white, blotched and spotted with brown and dusky) in the 

 beginning of May, on the projecting shelves of the highest cliffs, where, 

 in some situations, they may be seen by hundreds in a row, but not, as we 

 have been informed, 1 cemented to the surface ; for we have frequently 

 taken them up, and laid them again in the same spot. A violent gale 

 of wind sometimes sweeps away whole ranks. The egg is of a prodi- 

 gious size in proportion to the bird, being about the size of that of a 

 turkey, of a longer shape. The principal food of this bird is small fish, 

 particularly sprats, with which it feeds its young, taking three or four 

 at a time in its bill, with the tails hanging out. The eggs of this and 

 the foolish guillemot are an article of trade in several of the isles of the 

 coast of Scotland, and are used for refining sugar. They are also eaten 

 by the natives there, as well as in other parts ; to procure them they 

 are suspended by a rope, and let down from the top of the cliffs ; others 

 climb up and down by the help of a crook fastened to a pole : many 

 perish in this dangerous employment. This bird is not so plentiful as 

 the guillemot ; and it is remarkable, that although they breed in the 

 same cliffs, they rarely are found to lay on the same ledges or shelves 

 of the rock, but keep their breeding-places distinct, even where they 

 swarm like bees about a hive. 



* Colonel Montagu was of opinion that this and the black-billed auk 

 formed a distinct species. The researches of Temminck and Fleming, 

 both having the best opportunities of observing the habits of this 

 species, prove that he was mistaken : under the article Black-billed 

 Awk I have given his reasons for this opinion, which are very plausible. 

 They are, according to those authors, the young of the first year, which 

 at that time have a strong resemblance to the adult in the winter 

 plumage, but are easily distinguished by the bill being smaller, and 

 less furrowed with white ; the summit of the head and nape of the 

 neck of an ash-brown colour, all the inferior parts being pure white. * 



RECUR VIROSTRA (Linnaeus.)—* Avoset, a genus thus charac- 



1 This account was first, I believe, given by Harvey, the celebrated discoverer of the 

 circulation of the blood, and it has, as usual, been copied by Bewick, &c. 



I 



