COMMON RAZOR-BILL. ^29 



and appears on our coasts early in the spring, and' 

 associates with the Guillemots. About the beginning 

 of May the female deposits her single egg on the bare 

 rock ; it is of a dirty white, blotched and spotted with 

 brown and dusky, and of a large size in proportion 

 to that of the bird : it is singularly poised on the 

 rock, and it has been asserted that, when one of them 

 is removed by the hand, it is impossible, or at least 

 extremely difficult, to replace it in its former steady 

 situation : this has induced some people to suppose 

 that a kind of glutinous substance on the egg-shell, 

 when originally deposited, caused it to adhere ; but 

 Montagu says, that he has seen them by hundreds in 

 a row, and frequently taken them up and laid them 

 down in the same spot, and that they are not cemented 

 to the surface of the rock : they are frequently eaten 

 by the natives of Scotland, who procure them by 

 being let down from the top of the cliffs by a rope, 

 or by climbing up and down by the help of a crook 

 fastened to a pole ; in which dangerous employment 

 many of them perish : they are also used in refining 

 sugar. 



The principal food of these birds is small fish, par- 

 ticularly sprats, with which they also feed their young : 

 they are in great abundance in this country, and like- 

 wise occur throughout the greater portion of Europe 

 and the northern parts of Asia and America. 



