. History of British birds : the figures engraved on wood . y fituation. This i$ accountedfor by fome ornithologifls, who affert that the egg isfixed to the fpot upon which it is firft laid, by a glu- 156 BRITISH BIRDS. tinous fubflance with which the ftiell is covered, andwhich keeps it firmly in its place until the youngis produced. The egg of this Auk is three incheslong, of a greenifli white colour, irregularly mark-ed with dark fpots. They are gathered, with otherkinds, in great numbers, by the neighbouring in-habitants, from the rocky promontories in vari-ous parts of the Britifh iiles,
. History of British birds : the figures engraved on wood . y fituation. This i$ accountedfor by fome ornithologifls, who affert that the egg isfixed to the fpot upon which it is firft laid, by a glu- 156 BRITISH BIRDS. tinous fubflance with which the ftiell is covered, andwhich keeps it firmly in its place until the youngis produced. The egg of this Auk is three incheslong, of a greenifli white colour, irregularly mark-ed with dark fpots. They are gathered, with otherkinds, in great numbers, by the neighbouring in-habitants, from the rocky promontories in vari-ous parts of the Britifh iiles, but particularly inthe north, where the men who are accuftomed togather thefe eggs, are let down over the precipicesby ropes, which are tied to, or held by, their com-panions above. The foregoing figure and defcription were takenfrom a fpecimen in perfed plumage, Ihot on Jar-row-Slake, near the mouth of the Tyne, in May,by the late Mr Thomas Walton, of Farnacres, towhofe memory, for many favours of the fame kind,the author feels a large debt of BRITISH BIRDS. iSj BLACK-BILLED AUK. {Alca Pica, Lin.—Le Petit Pingmn, Buff.) Latham fays^ This weighs eighteen ounces:is in length fifteen inches: breadth bill is not above half the breadth of the Ra-zor-bills, and very little curved, perfectly fmooththroughout the whole of its furface, except a flightindentation at the bafe: infide of the mouth of apale flefh-colour: the top of the head, taking inthe eyes, part of the neck, the back, wings, andtail, are black; on the fides of the neck the blackcomes forward fo as almofl to meet on the fore part:the fides of the head, throat, fore part of the neck,and all beneath, white: from behind the eye adufky black mark tends to the hinder part of thehead, as in the LefTer Guillemot; the white on thefides of the head is lefs pure than that on the underparts : all the fecondary quills are tipped with white;and the primaries are of a deeper black than theothers: legs bro
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