Volume 40, Plate XVII / Ornithology (Birds)

Razor-Bill Auk

Alcus torda

An auk nearly as abundant as the guillemot on all coasts, breeding gregariously on the same rocks, the breeding dress brownish black with a narrow white streak from the bill to the eye, a white wing bar, and white under parts. Its flight is swift and low over the water, it ranges from Shetland to the Isle of Wight and into arctic seas, and in its first year the bill is weak and it is called the Black-billed Auk.