468 
ALCADAS. 
NA TA TORES. 
ALCADJE. 
RAZOR-BILL. 
Alca torda. 
PLATE CXXVIII. 
Like the guillemot, the Razor-bill breeds abundantly 
on some of the rocky cliffs of our sea-coast, and, like it, 
lays a single egg, which is sometimes found upon the 
bare unsheltered rock, at other times, within a hole or 
cranny of the cliff. The eggs are never blue, nor so 
elegant in their form as the eggs of the guillemot, from 
which they are readily known. They are less, much 
shorter in proportion to their breadth, and regularly 
rounded at the smaller end. They are subject to great 
and endless variety; the first figure is chosen as an 
average specimen of their usual colouring; the second 
is a variety by no means uncommon. The Razor-bills 
breed towards the end of May, or beginning of June; 
they are then numerous in the Western Isles, in Orkney, 
and in Shetland ; and great numbers of their eggs are 
taken yearly at Flamborough Head, which is one of their 
most favourite places of resort. 
