442 The Hifiory c/ A N 1 M A L 
Ale a rojlri fulcis quatuor , oculorum regione temporibufque 
. albis. 
The Alca, with four furrows on the beak 3 with'the 
fedes of the head, white . 
This is a very fingular bird 5 it is about the fize of our widgeon, or fomewhat larger, 
but is not quite fo large as the duck : the head is large and rounded; the eyes are 
Tmall, and hand forward on the head, and lower down than in the generality of birds s 
the beak is fhort and broad, but it is flatted in a different diredion to that of the beaks 
of the duck-kind, being comprefted from iide to fide, and not depreffed from top to bot¬ 
tom. It is large on the bale, and pointed at the extremity, and on the whole approaches 
fomewhat to a triangular figure : the upper chap is a little longer than the under, and 
fomewhat arcuated or hooked at the extremity : it’s bafe is furrounded with a naked, 
- callous matter, in the fame manner as the beak of the parrot-kind j juft under this 
callous fobftance "hand the noftrils; they are very long and narrow, and of a darker 
colour tnan the reft : the beak itfelf is of two colours; of a grey or bluifh-livid hue 
toward the bafe, and of a bright red at the extremity : there are four very remarkable 
xurrows in it; they run in a tranfverfe direction, and are confiderably deep, but the 
extream one is fainter than the reft; fo much fo indeed, that many of the authors who 
have described the bird, have called them only three: the mouth is yellow within; 
the eyes are large ; their iris is grey, and the eye-lids are armed with a thick black 
cartilage, and in the under one there is a fmall, livid, roundifth protuberance, and on 
the upper a triangular excrefcence of the fame fiefhy matter. 
The legs are, while the bird is young, of a bright yellow, but, when it is full- 
grown, they are red ; they are fhort, but robuft, and ftand fo extreamly backward, that, 
when the bird ftands upon them, it feems to raife itfelf eredt on the tail: the feet are 
moderately large \ the toes are three, all placed forward, and connected by a firm 
membrane : the middle toe of each foot is longeft, and the inner one much ftiorter 
than the outer : the claws are of a bluifh-black. 
The bead, neck, back, and upper furface of the wings, are all black : the whole 
bread and belly are white j there is a collar of black drawn acrofs the throat : the 
jaws, the upper part of the throat to this collar, and the fides of the head, are of an 
elegant inow-white, or in others of a very bright lilvery grey j the eyes are, as it 
were, furrounded by a circle of this colour 0 
The wings are very fhort, and compofed but of few feathers; they were not intend¬ 
ed by nature for long or high flights, but they ferve the bird for fkimming along the 
furface of the water at a prodigious rate : the tail is very fhort, fcarce an inch and a 
half long j it is compofed of twelve feathers, and is totally black. 
This fpecies breeds with us, and is very common about many of our coafts, eipe- 
cially the more northern. It is not at the trouble of making any neft, but lays it’s 
eggs in any little hollow on the ground • and, what is very fingular, each lays only one 
egg, but this is very large, in proportion to the fize of the bird. If this egg be taken 
away, the bird will lay another in the place of it, and fo on to the fifth; but, if un- 
difturbed fhe lays only one, nor will fhe ever fit on more than a fingle one. The 
egg is equal to the largeft hen’s egg, or larger, and is of a dufky yellowifh-brown co¬ 
lour all over; it is large at one end, and very fmall and pointed at the other. We 
have them in vaft plenty about the coafts of the Ifle of Anglefea, Caldey Ifland, the 
Ifle of Man, and other places, where they come on fhore in prodigious numbers to 
breed ; but they are birds of paflage, for they leave us at the approach of winter, and 
do not return till fpring. A few of them are ufually feen at the end of March, or 
in the beginning of April, which feem as if fent to reconnoitre, for they go off again, 
after a few days, and in three weeks, or a little more, return with the whole body. 
If the feafon be favourable, and the weather mild, they come in furprifing numbers, 
and 
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