Part 63

Great Northern Diver ]

ORDER PYGOPODES

FAMILY ALCIDÆ

THE RAZOR-BILL ALCA TORDA

Wings reaching to the origin of the tail; head and upper parts black; a band across the wing; an interrupted line from the eye to the base of the bill, and all the under parts white; bill black, with three or four furrows, of which the middle one is white; irides hazel; legs dusky. In summer the line from the eye to the bill is pure white, and the whole of the throat and neck is black, tinged with red. Length seventeen inches. Eggs white, blotched and spotted with two shades of brown.

In general habits, the Razor-bill closely resembles the Guillemot and Puffin. Indeed, in some parts of the coast, the Razor-bill is called a Puffin, and the latter a Sea Parrot; and in Cornwall both Guillemots and Razor-bills are known by the common name of Murre. At a distance the birds can only be distinguished by a practised eye; but on a close inspection they cannot be possibly confounded.

Razor-bills are common on many parts of our coast during the later summer months. They are more frequently seen swimming than flying, and if pursued by a boat are little disposed to take alarm until they are approached to within twenty or thirty yards, when they dive, but soon reappear not very far off. If two birds be in company and one be killed by a shot from a gun, its companion, instead of taking measures to insure its own safety, seems to lose the power of self-preservation. It paddles round its companion as if unable to comprehend the reason why it neither dives nor flies, and if pursued suffers itself to be overtaken and knocked down by an oar. This sympathetic feeling is not confined to birds which have paired, or to members of the same family; for in an instance which came under my own notice, both birds were only a few months old, and, as the Razor-bill lays but one egg, the birds could not possibly have grown up together. Towards winter, Razor-bills migrate southwards, either to avoid cold or to find waters where their prey swims nearer to the surface than in our climate. In spring they return northwards, and repair, like Puffins, to places of habitual resort for the purpose of breeding. At this season, also, they are eminently social, laying each an egg in close proximity on a ledge in the rocks, lower down than the Puffins, but above the Guillemots, all of which birds flock to the same portion of coast, often in countless multitudes. The egg differs from that of the Guillemot not only in colour but in shape, being less decidedly pear-shaped. It is much sought after as an article of food, and is said to be very palatable.

The 'Auk' of Arctic voyagers is this bird. The Razor-bill is one of the best known of the Auk family, or Alcidæ, although less plentiful than the Guillemot or the Puffin.

THE COMMON GUILLEMOT ÚRIA TRÓILE

Bill much compressed, longer than the head, greyish black; upper plumage brownish black; the secondaries tipped with white; a whitish patch behind the eye on each side; under plumage white; feet dusky; iris brown. Length nearly eighteen inches. Eggs greenish or bluish, blotched and streaked with black.

This is one of our common sea-birds during a great portion of the year, though little known to ordinary sea-side visitors, owing to its habit of keeping well out to sea and having nothing ostentatious in its habits. Yet, during a cruise in a yacht, on almost any part of the coast, a practised eye will often discover a few stragglers, distinguished among other sea-birds by their black and white colours, short neck, and sharp beak. They swim low in the water; and when disturbed do not invariably dive like the Grebes and Divers, but readily take wing. They are essentially marine birds, never resorting to fresh water, and living exclusively on fish, which they capture by diving, an art in which they are scarcely less skilful than the true Divers, and which they practise in the same way--by the means, namely, of both wings and feet. Occasionally, a small party may be observed, flying in single file near the surface of the water. On the eastern coast of England, the Guillemot is best known by the name of Willock. It is also called Tinker's Hue, or, as Yarrell gives it, 'Tinkershere'; and in the west of England it is often called a Murr. The old writers describe it under the name of Greenland Dove, or Sea Turtle-Dove; and in Scotland it has a variety of other names. Tinker's Hue is, I presume, the sobriquet of a white bird with a smutty back; Murr is clearly a corruption of Mergus, or 'diver'. Yet more commonly it is known as the 'Foolish Guillemot', a term of reproach analogous to that of 'Booby', given to it from the indifference which it evinces, in the breeding season, to one of its few, but that one the most formidable of its enemies, man. Early in spring Guillemots throng together from all parts of the open sea, and repair to some lofty cliff, where, on a narrow ledge of rock, which in their folly they deem inaccessible, they lay each a single egg. As the bird holds the egg between her legs, she could not well cover more than one; and though a concave nest is very needful to keep eggs together when there are several, no such contrivance is necessary when there is one only; so the Foolish Guillemot builds no nest, but lays a solitary egg on the bare rock. The egg, which is large, is thick-shelled and rough, so that it receives no detriment from the rock; and it is not likely to roll off, for at one end it is thick, and at the other tapers almost to a point; consequently, if accidentally moved by the parent bird when taking flight, it turns as if on a pivot, but does not fall off. At this season, the cliffs to which Guillemots resort are frequented also by myriads of other sea-birds, such as Razor-bills, Puffins, and Gulls, each congregating with its own species, but never consorting with another. In Iceland, the Faroe Islands, St. Kilda, the Orkneys, and many parts of the coast of Scotland, the breeding season of these birds is the harvest-time of the natives. Either by climbing from below, or by being let down with ropes from above, the egg-collectors invade the dominions of these literally feathered 'tribes'. The Foolish Guillemots, rather than leave their charge, suffer themselves to be knocked on the head, to be netted, or noosed. Although stationed so close to each other that a Foolish Guillemot alone could know its own egg, they learn no wisdom from the fate of their nearest neighbours. They are captured in detail for the sake of their feathers; and their eggs are taken for food. In St. Kilda and, perhaps, elsewhere, young birds are also taken in large numbers, and salted for consumption in winter. Such as escape this systematic slaughter flounder, as well as they are able, into the sea when nearly fledged, or are carried thither by their foolish mothers. There they learn to swim, to dive, and to fish, and about the middle of August old and young disperse.

Huge baskets of their eggs are sometimes brought to the markets of seaport towns (I have seen them so far south as Devonport), and sold for a price exceeding that of domestic fowls, for they are much larger, and are said to afford good eating. Wilson, in his Voyage round the Coasts of Scotland, says that the natives of St. Kilda prefer the eggs of these, and other sea-fowl, 'when sour; that is, when about ten or twelve days old, and just as the incipient bird, when boiled, forms in the centre into a thickish flaky matter, like milk.' Great quantities are used in the neighbourhood of Flamborough Head early in the nesting season.

Vol. ii. p. 45.

THE BLACK GUILLEMOT ÚRIA GRYLLE

Upper plumage black; middle of the wings and under parts white; iris brown; feet red. Length thirteen and a half inches. Eggs whitish grey, blotched and speckled with grey and two shades of brown.

The Black Guillemot, is a resident species breeding on the Isle of Man, and on the Irish coasts. In Scotland it is common. Its mode of life, as described by Macgillivray, who was familiarly acquainted with it, differs in no material respect from that of the species already described. It is, however, much smaller, and lays two or sometimes three eggs. Macgillivray says that, on those parts of the coast which it frequents, attempts are often made to rear it in captivity; but always unsuccessfully. In summer, these birds may be readily distinguished from other sea-fowl, by their black and white plumage and red feet: the predominant tint of the plumage in winter is white, with a tinge of grey; and in high latitudes the proportion of white increases.

THE LITTLE AUK MÉRGULUS ÁLLE

Head and upper parts black; two bands across the wings; a spot above the eye and all the under parts white. In summer the throat and front of the neck are also black. Length about seven inches. Eggs uniform pale blue.

The Little Auk is essentially a northern sea-bird, coming to us in winter, and is described by Arctic voyagers under the name of Rotche. It is an indefatigable swimmer, and has considerable powers of flight; but it does not possess the faculty of diving to the same degree as the Divers and Grebes, as it generally stays but a short time under water. Hence it must find its food near the surface; and this is supposed to consist of the small crustaceous animals which are so abundant in the Arctic waters. Little Auks are eminently social birds, and have been observed occasionally in such numbers on the water and floating masses of ice as almost to hide their resting-place. They rarely travel far south; and when they visit our shores, which is in winter, and after tempestuous weather, they are supposed to have been driven hither against their will. Instances are recorded of specimens having been found far inland, disabled or dead. It lays only a single egg.

THE PUFFIN FRATERCULA ÁRCTICA

Crown, collar, and upper parts, black; cheeks, region of the eyes, and throat, greyish white; under parts pure white; bill bluish grey at the base, yellow in the middle, bright red at the tip; upper mandible with three transverse furrows, lower, with two; iris whitish; orbits red; feet orange-red. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs whitish, with indistinct ash-coloured spots.

Unlike the majority of sea-birds which have been passing under our notice, Puffins visit the shores of the British Isles in summer, and even in winter they are not absent. They make their appearance about April or May, not scattering themselves indiscriminately along the coast, but resorting in vast numbers to various selected breeding-places, from the Scilly Islands to the Orkneys. Their home being the sea, and their diet small fish, they possess the faculties of swimming and diving to a degree of perfection. They have, moreover, considerable powers of flight; but on land their gait is only a shuffling attempt at progress. Their vocation on shore is, however, but a temporary one, and requires no great amount of locomotion. Soon after their arrival they set to work about their nests. Fanciful people who class birds according to their constructive faculty as weavers, basket-makers, plasterers, and so on, would rank Puffins among miners. Building is an art of which they are wholly ignorant, yet few birds are lodged more securely. With their strong beaks, they excavate for themselves holes in the face of the cliff to the depth of about three feet, and at the extremity the female lays a solitary egg--solitary, that is to say, unless another bird takes shelter in the same hole, which is not unfrequently the case. Puffins generally show no overweening partiality for their own workmanship; sloping cliffs which have been perforated by rabbits are favourite places of resort; and here they do not at all scruple to avail themselves of another's labour, or, if necessary, to eject by force of beak the lawful tenant. If the soil be unsuited for boring, they lay their eggs under large stones or in crevices in the rock. The old bird sits most assiduously, and suffers herself to be taken rather than desert her charge, but not without wounding, with her powerful beak, and to the best of her ability, the hand which ventures into her stronghold. Myriads burrow on Lundy Island. Lunde means Puffin, and ey Island, the name being given by the old Scandinavian rovers who settled there.

The young are fed by both parents, at first on half-digested fish, and when older on pieces of fresh fish. At this period they suffer their colonies to be invaded without showing much alarm, and are either shot, knocked down with a stick, or noosed without difficulty. As soon as the young are fully fledged, all the Puffins withdraw to southern seas, where they pass the winter, and do not approach land until the return of the breeding season. "A small island near Skye, named Fladda-huna, is a great breeding haunt of Puffins, a species which arrives in the earlier part of May, literally covering the rocks and ledgy cliffs with its feathered thousands. Although these have no concern with our Grouse-shooting season, they almost totally disappear on the twelfth of August." It was just about this period (August 7) in the present year (1861) that I observed several large flocks of Puffins, floating with the tide through the Sound of Islay, and was told by an intelligent gamekeeper that "these birds habitually swim through the sound at this season, but always fly when returning". The reason probably is that the young are not at the former period sufficiently fledged to undertake a long flight, though they find no difficulty in swimming. By spring they have attained their full strength, and are able to adopt the more rapid mode of progress. In Scotland there are many large colonies, also in the cliffs by Flamborough Head, and on the Farne Islands.

Puffins and some other sea-birds appear to be either liable to a fatal epidemic or to be surprised by some atmospheric disturbance, being unable to resist which, they perish in large numbers. I have seen a portion of the sea-shore in Cornwall strewed for the distance of more than a mile with hundreds of their remains. All the softer parts had been apparently devoured by fishes and crustaceous animals, and nothing was left but the unmistakable parrot-like beaks. A friend informs me that he witnessed a similar phenomenon in Norfolk, in September, 1858; but in this instance the carcases of the birds were not devoured, and the birds were of different kinds. He estimated that about ninety per cent. were Guillemots, and the remainder Puffins, Razor-bills, Scoters, and a sprinkling of Black Throated Divers. A similar mortality among sea-birds is recorded in the Zoologist as having taken place on the coast of Norfolk, in May, 1856. On this occasion they were so numerous as to be thought worth collecting for manure.

Other names by which the Puffin is known are Sea Parrot, Coulterneb, Mullet, Bottlenose; and, in Scotland, Ailsa Parrot, Tammie-Norie, and Tammas.

Wilson's Voyage round the Coast of Scotland.

FAMILY COLYMBIDÆ

THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER COLYMBUS GLACIÁLIS