Guide leaflet . white ring around the eye extendingbackward in a white stripe behind it. They are known as Spectacled Murres, but whether they constitute a distinctspecies, or are merely an individual variation, is as yet individual of this kind is shown in the group. Razor-billed Auk (Alca torda). The Razor-bill is the nearestexisting relative of the extinct Great Auk, which it resembles ingeneral appearance, but from which it differs in possessing thepower of flight. This species lays its single egg, which is moreelliptical than that of the Murres, in natural cavities or other- T
Guide leaflet . white ring around the eye extendingbackward in a white stripe behind it. They are known as Spectacled Murres, but whether they constitute a distinctspecies, or are merely an individual variation, is as yet individual of this kind is shown in the group. Razor-billed Auk (Alca torda). The Razor-bill is the nearestexisting relative of the extinct Great Auk, which it resembles ingeneral appearance, but from which it differs in possessing thepower of flight. This species lays its single egg, which is moreelliptical than that of the Murres, in natural cavities or other- The Bird Rock (..roup. •9 wise protected places, and the young .ire born covered irith ar nish accompanying illustration of the Razor-billed Auk and Great Auk is of interest not alone because the former is and thelatter was an inhabitant of Bird Rock, hut also because it permitsof a comparison of two closely allied birds, one of which hasretained, while the other has lost, the power of Bight. The Great. GREAT AUK AND RAZOR-BILLEO AUK. SHOWING COMPARATIVE specimens in the American Museum. Auk, unlike the Razor-bill, nested on low islands to which itcould gain access by means of the feet alone. It fed on fish,migration was unnecessary, and as a result of disuse it evidentlylost the power of flight, its wings serving only as paddles for pro-pulsion under the water. Hence it fell an easy victim to fisher-men, who, landing on the islets to which it resorted, killed it ingreat numbers for its flesh. The last living Great Auk was seenin 1844, and all that remains of the myriads described by theearly voyagers is some 77 skins, a few skeletons, and 70 eggs. 20 The Bird Rock Group. (See especially in this connection the skin, skeleton, and cast ofthe egg of the Great Auk in the Main Bird-Hall.) The Razor-bill breeds from the Bird Rocks and British Isl-ands northward and in winter is found as far south as Long Islandand the Mediterranean.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnatural, bookyear1901
