402 
EECURVIROSTRA. 
breast are white ; the tail is cuneiform, consisting- of twelve pointed 
feathers, the two middle of which exceed the rest considerably in 
length; legs dusky -black. * In young birds the chin is freckled with 
white ; the bill nearly smooth, and without the white band ; the stripe 
of white before the eyes being distinct. * 
The Razor-Bill is not seen with us in winter, but repairs to our 
rocky coasts in the spring, and begins to deposit its single egg (which is 
of a dirty white, blotched and spotted with brown and dusky) in the 
beginning of May, on the projecting shelves of the highest cliffs, where, 
in some situations, they may be seen by hundreds in a row, but not, as we 
have been informed, ^ cemented to the surface ; for we have frequently 
taken them up, and laid them again in the same spot. A violent gale 
of wind sometimes sweeps away whole ranks. The egg is of a prodi- 
gious size in proportion to the bird, being about the size of that of a 
turkey, of a longer shape. The principal food of this bird is small fish, 
particularly sprats, with which it feeds its young, taking three or four 
at a time in its bill, with the tails hanging out. The eggs of this and 
the foolish guillemot are an article of trade in several of the isles of the 
coast of Scotland, and are used for refining sugar. They are also eaten 
by the natives there, as well as in other parts ; to procure them they 
are suspended by a rope, and let down from the top of the cliffs ; others 
climb up and down by the help of a crook fastened to a pole : many 
perish in this dangerous employment. This bird is not so plentiful as 
the guillemot ; and it is remarkable, that although they breed in the 
same cliffs, they rarely are found to lay on the same ledges or shelves 
of the rock, but keep their breeding-places distinct, even where they 
swarm like bees about a hive. 
* Colonel Montagu was of opinion that this and the black-billed auk 
formed a distinct species. The researches of Temminck and Fleming, 
both having the best opportunities of observing the habits of this 
species, prove that he was mistaken : under the article Black-billed 
Awk I have given his reasons for this opinion, which are very plausible. 
They are, according to those authors, the young of the first year, which 
at that time have a strong resemblance to the adult in the winter 
plumage, but are easily distinguished by the bill being smaller, and 
less furrowed with white ; the summit of the head and nape of the 
neck of an ash-brown colour, all the inferior parts being pure white. * 
RECURVIROSTRA (LiNNiEus.) — * Avoset, a genus thus charac- 
* This account was first, I believe, given by Harvey, the celebrated discoverer of the 
circulation of the blood, and it has, as usual, been copied by Bewick, &c. 
