216 
ALCINiE. ALCA. 
dense, longitudinally plicate ; intestine moderate ; coeea 
small. Nostrils linear-oblong, marginal, medial. Eyes 
small. Apertures of ears very small. Head large, ovate, 
anteriorly compressed ; neck short and thick ; body full, ra- 
ther depressed. Feet short, placed far behind, lower part 
of tibia bare ; tarsus very short, stout, compressed, scutellate 
in front ; hind toe wanting ; anterior toes of moderate 
length, the inner shortest, all connected by entire webs ; 
claws rather small, arcuate, compressed, pointed. Plumage 
dense, very soft, blended ; wings small, narrow, acute ; tail 
very short, rounded, of twelve or more feathers. 
The Auks are precisely similar to the Guillemots in their 
habits. One species is of frequent occurrence along our 
coasts, breeding in the same places as the foolish Guillemot, 
and afterwards dispersing over the seas. Another species, 
the Great Auk, which some place in a separate genus, is met 
with very rarely on the northern coasts of Scotland. 
283. Alca Torda. Razor-billed Auk. 
Length about seventeen inches; wings reaching to the 
middle of the tail, which has twelve feathers ; bill with four 
transverse grooves, one of which is white. Adult in summer 
with the head and upper part of the neck all round brownish- 
black, the upper parts greenish- black, the lower white ; a 
narrow line from the bill to the eye, and the terminal mar- 
gins of the secondary quills white. In winter, the upper part 
of the head and nape greyish-black, the throat and sides of 
the head white, with a dusky band behind the eye, the other 
parts nearly as in summer. Young at first coloured like the 
adult in summer, afterwards like the adult in winter, but al- 
ways distinguishable by having the bill smaller, much less 
elevated, without grooves, and black. 
Male, l7lr, 28, 8 T %, ly%, 1-|, ly 8 ^-, y%. Female, 16|, 27. 
In autumn great numbers of Razor-bills appear on the bays 
and estuaries of all parts of Scotland and England. They 
advance southward as the cold increases, and almost entirely 
desert the northern parts, unless when shoals of young fishes 
are on the coast. Toward the end of spring they proceed in 
parties to their breeding-places, which are abrupt headlands 
or rocks on unfrequented islands, and on which they settle, 
along with the Guillemots and Kittiwakes. Their single 
egg is extremely large, oblong, somewhat pyriform, three 
inches or a little less in length, white, greyish, or brownish- 
