236 
ALCIDiE. 
to the same species. The cry of the razorbill auk is a kind of 
croak, harsh and disagreeable; and by an imitation of it, the 
birds are drawn out from their lurking-places behind the ledges 
of rock, by the fowlers. The egg in size and markings resembles 
that of the guillemot; the young were covered with dark grey 
down, the bill slightly hooked at the tip, but not presenting the 
peculiar marks which characterize that of the adult."”* 
Some particulars of this species at Horn Head are noticed 
under “ Puffin.” I have been informed that it breeds, westward, 
on the Bills Bock, off Achil, and that great numbers frequent the 
Galway and Kerry coasts in summer and autumn ; in the latter, 
the Magharee islands, Tearaght Bock, and both the Skelligs 
are among the localities. Smith, in his f History of Cork/ re- 
marked that — “ The razorbill brings up its young on the ledges 
of the craggy rocks near the sea,” and, in his e History of Water- 
ford/ that “ they frequent our shores in winter the species is 
noticed also in Butty's f Natural History of Dublin •/ — on the 
marine rocks of those counties it still continues to nidify. A 
correspondent has often shot the young on the Dublin coast in 
winter, but never the old.f On the 22nd of Pebruary and 7th 
March of different years, I have received adult birds from the 
coast of Down, and a month after the latter date, in Dublin. On 
the coast of Donegal specimens have been obtained in winter, but 
it is not stated whether old or yonng ; J the same may be said of 
Bantry Bay. 
The razorbill, like the common guillemot, appears far up 
Belfast Bay, near to the town, late in spring and autumn, and 
more especially if the weather be calm. During the summer 
it is seen about the entrance of the bay. When crossing from 
Groomsport to the Copeland Islands, on the 16th of July, 1850, 
* At the Mull of Oe, in Islay, the nearest land northward of Rathlin, razorbills 
have a hreeding-haunt. 
f Mr. R. J. Montgomery. One of the yonng — an Alca pica, or black-hilled auk — 
is mentioned by Mr. Templeton as received by him in Belfast on the 28th of January, 
1811. 
t Mr. J. V. Stewart. 
