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A L C 
A L C 
A L C 
ners it greatly resembles the puffin; living all 
day at sea, but at no great distance from fhe 
jocks; it comes on shore at night ; burrows a 
yard deep under ground, and makes a nest 
with- feathers and .sea plants ; is monogamous, 
anti lodges there the whole night with its 
mate, it lays one white egg in the end of 
May or beginning of June, which alone is 
thought' fit to be eaten, the flesh of the bird 
itself being insipid and hard. It feeds on 
crabs, shrimps, and shell-fish, which last it 
’ forces from tne rocks with its strong bill. 
4. Alca impennis, the northern pen- 
guin, or great auk, with a compressed bill, 
furrowed on each side, and an oval spot on 
each side of the eyes. According to Mr. 
Martin, this bird breeds on the isle of St. 
Kikla; appearing there the beginning of May, 
and retiring the middle of June. It lays one 
egg, which is six inches long, of a white co- 
lour; some are irregularly marked with pur- 
plish line's crossing each other : if the egg is 
taken away, it will not lay another that sea- 
son. The length of this bird, to the end of 
its toes, is three feet: but its wings are so 
small, as to be useless for flight ; the length, 
Jrom the tip of the longest quillfeathers to the 
fil'd joint, being only four indies and a quar- 
ter. This bird is observed by seamen never 
to wander beyond soundings ; and according 
to its appearance they direct their measures, 
.being then assured that land is not very re- 
mote. It walks ill; but dives well, and is 
taken in the manner used for the razor bill and 
puffin. The skin between the jaws is blown 
into a bladder, and used for the darts of the 
Greenlanders, as is also that of some other 
birds. 
5. Alca pica, or black-billed auk, has the 
bill of the same form with the torda, but is en- 
tirely black. Mr. Pennant observes, that it 
is sometimes found on our coasts ; but, ac- 
cording to Mr. Latham, it is in the winter 
season only, when the common sort has quit- 
ted them. They are said to be met with on 
the coast of Candia, and other parts of the 
Mediterranean. 
d. Alca psittacula, or perroquet auk 
of Dr. Pallas, is about the size of the little 
auk. The bill is much compressed on the 
sides, in shape convex both above and below, 
and of a bright red colour : from the remote 
corner of each eye is a very slender tuft of line 
white feathers, hanging down the neck. This 
species is found at Kamtschatka, in the isles 
towards Japan, and on the western shores of 
America. They are sometimes seen in Hocks, 
but seldom far from land, except when driven 
. by storms. During night they harbour in 
the crevices of rocks. About the middle of 
June they lay an egg, almost the size of a 
hen’s, of a dirty white or yellowish colour, 
spotted with brown, upon the bare rock, or 
sand, for they make no nest. Like most of 
the tribe, they are stupid birds, as is evinced 
by the method of catching them. One of 
Uie natives places himself under a loose gar- 
ment of fur, of a particular make, with large 
open sleeves, among tiie rocks at evening ; 
when the birds, returning to their lodging 
places at dusk, run under the skirts, and up 
the arm holes, for shelter during the night, 
and thus become an easy prey. Their stu- 
pidity likewise appears from their flying 
aboard ships, mistaking them for roosting 
places. 
7. Alca Torda, or the razor bill, with 
four furrows on the bill, and a white line on 
each side running from the bill to the eyes. 
These birds, in company with the guillemot, 
appear in our seas the beginning of February, 
but do not settle on their breeding places till 
they begin to lay, about the beginning of May. 
They inhabit the ledges of the highest rocks 
that impend pver the sea, where they form 
a grotesque appearance ; sitting close toge- 
ther, and in rows one above another. They 
properly lay but one egg apiece, of an ex- 
traordinary size for the bulk of the bird, be- 
ing three inches long ; it is either white, or of 
a pale sea green, irregularly spotted with 
black. If this egg is destroyed, both the auk 
and the guillemot will lay another : if that is 
taken, then a third : they make no nest, de- 
positing their egg on the bare rock ; and 
though such multitudes lay contiguous, by a 
wonderful instinct each distinguishes its own. 
What is also matter of great amazement, they 
fix their egg on the smooth rock with so exact 
a balance, as to secure it from rolling off; yet 
should it be removed, and then attempted to 
be replaced by the human hand, it is extreme- 
ly difficult, if not impossible, to land its former 
equilibrium. According to Mr. Latham, it 
is by means of a cement that the bird lixes 
its egg % 
ALCAIC, in antient poetry, a denomina- 
tion given to several kinds of verse, from Al- 
caeus, their inventor. 1. The first kind con- 
sists of five feet, viz. a spondee, or iambic; an 
iambic ; a caesura, and two dactyles ; such is 
the following verse of Horace : 
Eheu ! | fuga|ces, | Postume, | Postume, 
Labnn tur an.ni ! | nec piejtas moram. 
2. The second kind consists of two dactyles 
and two trochees : as, 
Aiferet, | indomjtaeque | morti. 
3. Besides these two, which are called dac- 
tylic Alcaics, there is another styled simply 
Alcaic ; consisting of an epitrite/ two chori- 
ambus ; and a baechius : the following is of 
this species, 
Cur timetfia; vum Tiberim j tungore, cur j oli- 
vum? 
ALCAID, Alcayde, or Alcalde, in the 
polity of the Moors, Spaniards, and Portu- 
guese, a magistrate, or officer of justice, an- 
swering nearly to the office of the British jus- 
tice of peace. The alcaid among the Moors 
is invested with the supreme jurisdiction, both 
in civil and criminal cases. 
ALCANNA, in commerce, a cosmetic 
powder prepared from the leaves of the Egyp- 
tian privet. It is much used by the Turkish 
women to give a golden colour to their nails 
and hair. There is also an oil extracted from 
the berries of alcanna, and used in medicine 
as a quiescent. 
ALCANTARA, the knights of, a military 
order of Spain, which took its name from the 
above mentioned city. They make a very 
considerable figure in the history of the ex- 
peditions against the Moors. Alter the ex- 
pulsion of the Moors, and the taking of Gra- 
nada, the sovereignty of the order of Alcan- 
tara and that of Calatrava was settled in the 
crown of Castile by Ferdinand and Isabella. 
In 1540 the knights of Alcantara sued for 
leave to marry, which was granted them. 
ALCAVALA, in the Spanish finances, was 
at first a tax of 10 per cent, afterwards of 14 
per cent, but is at present of only 6 per cent-, 
upon the sale of every sort of property, whe- 
ther moveable or immoveable ; and it is repeat- 
ed every time the property is sold. The levy- 
ing of this tax requires a multitude of revenue 
officers sufficient to guard the transportation 
of goods, net only from one province to an- 
other, but from one shop to another. It is to * 
the alcavala, accordingly, that Ultaritz imputes 
the ruin of the manufactures of Spain. 
ALCEA, the Holly-Hock: a genus of 
the polyandria order, belonging to the rnona- 
delphia class of plants ; and in the natural me- 
thod ranking under the 37th order, colum- 
nifei a;. The characters are : the calyx is a 
double perianthium, monophyllous and per- 
sistent; the exterior one six-cleft, the interior 
half live-cleft : the corolla consists of five pe- 
tals, coalesced at the base, heart-shaped in- 
versely, and expanding: the stamina consist 
of numerous filaments, coalesced below into a 
five-cornered cylinder, loose above, and in- 
serted into the corolla ; the autherse are kid- 
ney-shaped : the pistillum has a roundish ger- 
men; a short cylindric stylus ; and numerous 
bristly stigmata the length of the stylus : the 
pericarpium consists of many arilli, jointed 
into a verticillum about a columnar depressed 
receptacle: the seeds are solitary, reniform, 
and depressed. There are three species, the 
alcea licifblia, rosea, and africana. 
ALCEDO, or Kingsfisher, in ornitho- 
logy, a genus of the order of pies. The al- 
cedo has a long, straight, thick, triangular bill ; 
with a fleshy, plain, short, flat tongue. Of 
this genus there are many species, with 6ne or 
other of which almost every part of the world 
is furnished. Most of them frequent rivers, 
and live on fish, the singularity of catching 
which is admirable : sometimes hovering over 
the water, where a shoal of small fishes is seen 
playing near the surface ; at other times wait- 
ing with attention, on some low branch hang- 
ing over the water, for the approach of a single 
fish which is so unlucky as to swim that way ; 
in either case dropping like a stone, or rather 
darting with rapidity on its prey; when, seiz- 
ing it crosswise in its bill, it retires to a resting 
place to feast on it ; which it does piecemeal, 
bones and all, without reserve, afterwards 
bringing up the indigestible parts in pellets, 
like birds of prey. The wings of most of the 
genus are very short ; yet the birds fly rapidly 
and with great strength. It may be remark- 
ed, that throughout this genus, blue, in dif- 
ferent shades, is tire most predominant colour. 
There are above 30 species of this genus, of 
which the following are the most remarkable, 
viz. See Plate Nat. Hist. lig. 9 and 10. 
1. Alcedo galbula, or green jacamar, is 
about the size a lark. The bill is black, of a 
square form, a little incurvated and sharp at 
the point ; the plumage, in general, in the 
upper part of the body, is of a most brilliant 
green, glossed with copper and gold in differ- 
ent lights. This species is found both in 
Guiana and Brasil, in the moist woods, which 
it prefers to the more dry spots, for the sake of 
insects, on which it feeds. Though these birds 
are solitary, yet they are tar from scarce; as 
many may be met with. They are said to 
have a short and agreeable note. 
2. Alcedo isjpida, or common kings- 
fisher, is not much larger than a swallow ; its 
shape is clumsy ; the bill disproportionably 
long, it is two inches from the base to the tip, 
the upper chap black, and the lower yellow. 
But the colours of this bird atone for its inele- 
gant form : the crown of the head and the co* - 
