116 R A Z O R - B I L L E D A U K .
grown, they weighed about a pound and a half. The stomach is an oblong
sac, the lower part of which is rather muscular, and answers the purpose
of a gizzard. In many I found scales, remnants of fish, and pieces
of shells. The intestines were upwards of three feet in length.
Immediately after the breeding season, these birds drop their quills,
and are quite unable to fly until the beginning of October, when they
all leave their breeding grounds for the sea, and move southward. The
young at this period scarcely shew the white streak between the bill and
the eye; their cheeks, like those of the old birds at this time, and the
fore part of the neck, are dingy white, and remain so until the following
spring, when the only difference between the young and the old is, that
the former have the bill smaller and less furrowed, and the head more
brown. The back, tail, and lower parts do not seem to undergo any
material change.
ALCA TORDA, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 210—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. n. p. 7 9 3—
Ch. Bonap. Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 431.
RAZOR-BILL, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 547-
Adult Male in summer. Plate CCXIV. Fig. 1.
Bill shorter than the head, feathered as far as the nostrils, beyond which
it is very high, exceedingly compressed, and obliquely furrowed on the
sides. Upper mandible with the dorsal line curved so as to form the
third of a circle, the ridge extremely narrow but rounded, the sides nearly
flat, with five grooves, the one next the base deeper and more narrow,
the edges inflected and sharp, the tip decurved and obtuse. Nostrils
medial, marginal, linear, short, pervious, but concealed by the feathers.
Lower mandible with the angle very narrow, and having a horny triangular
appendage, the base at first horizontal and extremely narrow, then sloping
forwards and rounded, the dorsal outline rounded, towards the end
concave, the sides slightly concave, the edges inflected, the tip decurved.
Head large, oblong, anteriorly narrowed. Eyes small. Neck short
and strong. Body full, rather depressed. Wings small. Feet placed
far behind, short, rather strong; tibia bare a short way above the joint;
tarsus very short, compressed, anteriorly scutellate, laterally covered with
reticulated angular scales, posteriorly granulate. Hind toe wanting;
toes of moderate length, rather slender, scutellate above, connected by re-
R A Z O R - B 1 L L E D A U K . 117
ticulated entire membranes, the inner toe having also a projecting margin
; outer toe slightly longer than middle one; inner considerably shorter.
Claws rather small, arched, compressed, obtuse.
Plumage close, blended, very soft, on the head very short and velvety.
Wings short, curved, narrow, acute. Primary quills narrow, incurved,
acute, first longest, second slightly shorter, the rest rapidly graduated;
secondary quills very short, obliquely rounded. Tail short, tapering, of
twelve narrow, pointed feathers.
Bill black, with a white line across each mandible; inside of the
mouth gamboge-yellow. Iris deep hazel. Feet black. Fore part of
neck below, and all the lower parts, white; the rest black, the head,
hind neck, and back, glossed with olive-green, the throat and sides of
the neck tinged with chocolate, the wings with brown, the tips of the secondary
quills, and a narrow line from the bill to the eye, white.
Length to the end of tail 17 inches, to the end of claws 1 7 | ; extent
of wings ; wing from flexure 8£, tail 4; bill along the ridge 1T
7
2,
along the edge 2^, its greatest depth f § ; tarsus 1 T
2
? , middle toe 1T
8
2 , its
claw T
5
2 . Weight 11 pound.
Adult Female in summer. Plate CCXIV. Fig. 2.
The female is precisely similar to the male.
The Young in their winter plumage have the colouring distributed
as in the old birds, but with the black duller, the wings more brown, the
throat and sides of the head mottled with white, the white line from the
bill to the eye existing, but the bill much smaller, without furrows or a
white line.
The Old Birds in winter have the throat and sides of the neck mottled
as described above ; but in other respects their colours are the same as
in summer.
The gullet wide, dilated towards the lower extremity, its mucous
coat longitudinally corrugated; the proventriculus very wide and glandular
; the stomach rather small, oblong, muscular, with an inner, longitudinally
corrugated and horny cuticular coat. Pylorus very small; innJrw".
D3i9voD yllftidifil .sifillon •
testine near its commencement T
4
3 of an inch in diameter, gradually contracted
to the caeca, where it is T
2
2 ; caeca half an inch long, tapering. The
length of the gullet and stomach together is 8, that of the intestine 41 inches.