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CHAPTEE XIX. 
AUKS, GUILLEMOTS, &C. ! — THE FOOLISH, BLACK, BRIDLED, AND 
BRUNNICH's guillemot — THE LITTLE ROTCIIE THE RAZOR- 
BILL — THE GREAT AUK THE PUFFIN. 
IN the family Alcince are included the Auks, Guillemots, 
Rotches, Eazor-bills, and Puffins. They differ from 
the Loons in having the body very compact, the neck short 
and thick, the head large and broadly ovate, and the feet 
not placed so far back. 
These birds (saj^s Macgillivray) belong entirely to the northern 
hemisphere, and inhabit the seas and coasts of the cold and temperate 
regions of both continents. Fitted by their compact form and dense 
short plumage to bear all the vicissitudes of weather, they seek their 
food as well on the open sea as along the shores. Their short firm 
wings, while they enable them to fly to great distances, are also the 
principal instruments by which they pursue under water the small 
fishes and Crustacea on which they feed. In summer vast multitudes 
betake themselves to the most northern regions, while others of the 
same species occupy suitable places in the northern, temperate, and 
intermediate zones. Thus the Razor-bill, Guillemot, and Auk, are 
to be fdtind in June and July, equally in Scotland, Feroe, Iceland, 
and Spitzbergen. It is on the shelves, or in the crevices of precipitous 
rocks that they breed, few or none of them forming a nest, though 
some of them conceal themselves in burrows. In most of the species 
only a single very large egg is laid. The young soon betake them- 
selves to the sea, and toward the middle of autumn they and the old 
birds remove southward, few of them however proceeding so far as 
the Mediterranean. They are seldom seen on shore, unless at their 
breeding-places, the position and form of their feet being very 
unfavourable to walking, and on the rocks they stand in a very 
inclined position. Eight specie's rank as British. 
