ALCA TORDA, Linn.

Razorbill.

Alca torda, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 49.

—— pica, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 210.

—— Balthica et unisulcata, Brinn. Orn. Bor., pp. 101, 102.

— glacialis, Brehm, Vog. Deutsch., p. 1004.

—— Islandica, Brehm, ib., p. 1005, tab. 46. fig. 2.

Utamania torda et pica, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 42.

 

Now that the Great Auk (4/ca impennis) is gone, and will no more cleave the waters of the great deep, the
Razorbill is the sole representative of a genus forming a part of a great family of sea-birds peculiar to the
northern hemisphere. Unlike its celebrated ally, it is still very numerous, and will doubtless for a long
time remain to gladden the waters with its presence, as it does the sea-girt rocks along our shores at the
season of reproduction. Still its numbers must be yearly diminishing ; for hundreds are wantonly killed by
persons living in the neighbourhood of its breeding-places, or by excursionists who visit its rookeries during
the months of spring and summer. The wild and Savage scenery of these romantic places doubtless have
many charms for pleasure-seekers ; but I wish they were more friendly to this and the other rock-resorting
birds that come to our coast during the season of reproduction. To enumerate all the places in the
British Islands where this bird may be found from May until August would be superfluous. The
Londoner who flies to our southern coasts to invigorate his frame must have seen it at the Foreland,
or on the cliffs of the famed Beachy Head ; and the visitor to the Isle of Wight, at the Needles; while
Weymouth and every rocky promontory thence to the Scilly Islands will afford the same gratification to
those who may wish for it; far round to the westward too, along the shores of Cornwall, Wales, Scotland,
and Ireland, it is everywhere to be met with. Besides the British Islands, the Razor-bill frequents the rocky
shores of Norway and Iceland, but, according to Mr. Alfred Newton, does not proceed so far north as
Spitzbergen, or at least no authenticated specimens have been procured in that high northern locality. It
has been seen in Davis’s Straits, and it is one of the commonest of the rock-birds of Nova Scotia and other
parts of North America as far south as New York; that it also extends its range to the north-west of
America is likely ; for we learn from the ‘Fauna Japonica’ that an individual was procured by the Dutch
voyagers on the coast of Japan. Southward of Britain it proceeds as far as the Mediterranean; but I
question if it be met with any further in this direction.

The graphic description of the habits of this species given by Macgillivray is by far the best that has yet
appeared ; and as I believe it is comparatively unknown, I shall offer no excuse for transferring it to my pages.

In autumn great numbers of Razorbills make their appearance on the bays and estuaries of most parts
of Scotland and England. As the season advances they become more numerous to the southward, and in
winter the northern coasts are almost deserted by them. In the firths and other inlets, when frequented by
shoals of young herrings or other fishes, they are often seen in great abundance, and in fine weather are
often met with in the open seas. Toward the end of spring they collect in parties and proceed to certain
breeding-places, which are always abrupt cliffs along the shores, or precipitous islands, where they nestle
along with the Guillemots and Kittiwakes. Of this kind are St. Abb’s Head in Berwickshire, the Bass
Rock, and Fowlsbeugh near Stonehaven. The Hebrides afford many such retreats, one of the most inter-
esting of which is the little island of Berneray, called by mariners Barray Head, about ninety miles from the
coast of Ireland on the one hand, and St. Kilda on the other, and one of a group of islets named the South
Isles of Barray. The Island of Berneray is of an elliptical form, about a mile in length, and upwards of half
a mile in breadth. It presents the appearance of a mass of rock, considerably inclined, the northern side
dipping into the water, and the southern exhibiting an abrupt section rising to the height of several hundred
feet. Viewed from the sea the rock presents an imposing spectacle, exhibiting masses of inclined, perpen-
dicular, and projecting cliffs, smooth, largely cleft, or minutely fissured. When I visited it the whole face
of the precipice, to the extent of half a mile, was covered with birds, which had assembled there for the
purpose of breeding. Only four species were seen by me—the Guillemot, the Razorbill Auk, the Puffin,
and the Kittiwake. These birds inhabit the cliffs not promiscuously, but with a degree of regularity and
distinction which seems not a little wonderful. On the grassy summits breed the Puftins, burrowing in the
turf. From thence to halfway down is the space selected by the Auks, while in the remaining division are
stationed the Guillemots and Kittiwakes, the latter coming almost to high-water mark. The Auks and
Guillemots lay each a single egg, which is placed on the bare rock. On a shelf about three yards in length,