252 
THE RAZOR-BILL. 
within a few inches of the edge. By what care or 
instinct was it preserved from falling ? It has been 
said that, if they are removed by a human hand, it 
is impossible, or at least extremely difficult, to replace 
them in their former situation ; whence it has been 
inferred, that they are glued by some secret cement 
to the rock. Some of our ablest naturalists, however, 
doubt this; but if it is not so, the mystery is rather 
increased than lessened — for they are in a most 
hazardous position ; but they are preserved, though 
by what means we have yet to learn. 
The Razor-bills were by no means so numerous 
as the Guillemots, and, generally speaking, did not 
mix with them ; seeming to hold themselves apart, 
as the better bird of the two, peering at one another, 
and pluming their coats with a sort of dandy satis- 
faction at their superior brilliancy and glossiness. 
Besides these more common species, there are 
others, rarely found in Britain, being chiefly confined 
to the colder and more inhospitable regions of the 
northern or southern divisions of the globe, where 
they exist in numbers almost surpassing our powers 
of computation. One species, in particular, the little 
Auk, or Greenland Dove ( Alca alle ), Sir Edward 
Parry met with by millions, when the ships got 
amongst the ice in particular spots, and they were 
killed for sea provisions. But in the southern hemis- 
pheres they appear to be even still more abundant. 
Adjacent to the islands of Australia*, the Sooty 
Petrels ( Pr ocellar ia pacifica ,) congregate in incre- 
dible masses, of from fifty to eighty yards in depth, 
Flinder’s Australia « 
