comes tlie young one again, only to get another dose ; but the
young bird cannot remain so long under water as the mother,
and it often dodges her by diving for an instant. The young
birds remain in the sea for one or two days, when they all
prepare to leave, the old birds getting restless and taking
short flights. One can generally tell the night before they
leave, as they make such a noise : should the wind be favourable
they take their departure before sunrise in small
strings.”
Of late years there has been a noticeable and unaccountable
diminution in the number of Razor-bills on the British
coasts. This may partly be owing to severe visitations of
mortality which have from time to time affected many seabirds,
but especially the present species. Mr. R. Gray states
that in 1859 thousands of dead birds, the Razor-bills being in
the proportion of ten to one, were observed in the Irish Sea and
on the west coasts of Scotland, and in that instance Mr. D.
Robertson (Pr. N. H. Soc. Glasgow, i. p. 4) traced the reason
with tolerable certainty to the sudden disappearance of the
small herring fry and other fishes after heavy gales, leading
to emaciation and starvation. Mr. Gatcombe’s experience
is similar. The Razor-bill is, however, nowhere so abundant
as the Guillemot, although its general distribution is about
the same in the British seas and along our coasts. After
storms, individuals have occasionally been found in the most
inland districts of our narrow islands.
The Razor-bill breeds in the Faeroes, Iceland, Norway,
Sweden, and some of the Baltic Islands; but Mr. J. H.
Gurney jun., informs the Editor that it no longer does so
on Heligoland. There are stations on the French coast,
both in the Channel and in Brittany, south of which it is
not positively known to breed in Europe. On migration a
few visit the Mediterranean Sea as far east as Malta; but
the majority keep well out in the Atlantic unless driven into
the bays by stormy weather. It breeds on the west coast of
Greenland, as far north at least as Arveprins Island (about
70° N. lat.), where Major Feilden observed that one, out of
many which were shot, had its hatching-spot on the side
under the wing, and not on the belly, as usual, showing that
this bird must have lain on its side during incubation
(Zool. 1878, p. 878). It is not, however, known to cross to
the western side of Davis Strait and Baffin Sea, nor can its
continuous range be traced to the North Pacific, where it is
said to occur in Japanese waters, although confirmation of
this is wanting. On the Atlantic side it breeds in abundance
on the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland, ranging
southwards in winter to about 40° N. lat.
Both sexes are alike in plumage, and in summer the beak
is black, with three transverse grooves and one white line
on the upper mandible, two shallower transverse grooves and
a white line on the lower mandible ; from the top of the beak
to each eye there is a well-defined streak of pure white ;
hides dark brown ; the upper part of the head, hind neck,
back, wings, and tail black ; chin and throat dark brown;
the tips of the secondary quill-feathers, the breast, and all
the under surface of the body pure white ; legs, toes, and
their membranes brownish-black. In winter the colour of
the upper parts is browner, and the throat, front neck, and
sides of the head are white. The whole length about
seventeen inches ; wing, from the wrist, seven inches and a
half.
A young bird of the year, killed in December, represented
by the central figure in the illustration, has the beak
smooth and black, as yet without ridge, groove, or white line
on either mandible; the white line from the top of the beak
to the eye observable, but not very pure in colour, being
mixed with a little black; chin, throat, neck in front, and
on the side at the upper part, cheeks, and ear-coverts white.
It only differs from the adult bird in winter in the character
of the beak, which is smaller and has not then acquired the
grooves or lines so conspicuous in the old bird. The young
bird retains its white throat till the spring moult, when it
assumes the black throat peculiar to the breeding-season ;
by the middle of May the bill exhibits a whitish band, but
the grooves are not well defined until the following year,
when it breeds.