RAZOR-BILL. 
tog 
bill and conspicuous stripe from its base to the eye. It is 
cre-arious at all times of the year, and in some places literally 
swarms. In summer it comes to the rocky headlands and 
wild precipitous islets to rear its young ; but from its partiality 
for clefts in the rocks rather than ledges, it is almost absent 
from many places where the Guillemot^ breeds m great abun- 
dance, as, for instance, the ‘Pinnacles m the Fame Islands. 
The Razor-bill is most at home in the water, where it vies 
even with the fish in activity and rapidity of movement. It 
floats on the heaving w'aves, light and buoyant as a coik, sitting 
well out of the water, its head and neck raised high above its 
back very similar to a Duck or a Diver. It swims with ease, 
naddling at times very quickly, and often indulges iri a frolic 
n the sea, splashing about with its wings, chasing its cora- 
mnions, and being chased by them in turn. It often sleeps on 
*e water, tossed about seemingly at the mercy _o the waves, 
but quite safe even in the roughest water. It is by no means 
a shy bird, and frequently allows a boat or a vessel to approach 
it within a few yards ere it takes wing or dives. _ Like the 
Guillemot and the Puffin, it is an expert diver vanishing from 
view with great rapidity, leaving tiny air-bubbles to mark the 
place of its descent. It dives for a considerable distance 
below the surface, either in pursuit of a small fish or in search 
of crustaceans and molluscs hiding in the crevices of the rocks 
and amongst the seaweed at the bottom. Ihe Razor-bill, in 
spite of its narrow and comparatively small wings, flies we 1, 
but does not rise very easily from the water, generally splash- 
ing along for a few yards ere it gets well into the air. It never 
appears to fly about like the Puffin, and when it leaves its 
perch on the rocks generally darts headlong down into the sea, 
and when leaving the water, soon makes for the rocks again. 
The fli'^ht is performed by rapid and incessant beatings of the 
wings ° The Razor-bill is a clumsy object on the land, and 
very rarely attempts to walk far, progressing in a hobbling 
kind of way. I'his bird often goes long distances to feed, and 
then its flight can he seen to perfection, as the_ little troop of 
birds, usually in single file, pass rapidly along just above the 
surface of the waves. .-nr u 
“ The food of the Razor-bill is composed principally ot small 
fish, especially of the fry of the herring and the coal-fish ; these 
