AUKS, GUILLEMOTS or MURRES, and PUFFINS, northern oceanic birds of the family Alcidae, breed often in vast mixed communities on cliff ledges from Greenland, Iceland and Spits bergen to the St. Lawrence, Maine, Norway and the British isles. As the legs are set far back, they stand upright. Most lay one large, blotched egg, pointed at one end so that it tends to roll in a circle, thus not falling from the ledge; the black guillemot (Cep plius, or Uria, grylle), length 14 in., lays two eggs; in summer it is black with a white patch on the wing; in winter the wings and tail are black while head and body are white. Other members of the family, black above and white below, have little seasonal change of colour. The puffin (Fratercula arctica), length 13 in., distinguished by a heavy, deep, scarlet and yellow bill, nests in a burrow or rock crevice. The common guillemot (U. troille), length 18 in., like the puffin, breeds south to Portugal; a subspecies is found in the north Pacific. Brllnnich's murre (U. loinvia), length 18 in., is more northern, and has a pale line along the upper mandible. The razor-billed auk (Alta torda), has a deep, heavy bill; it sometimes wanders to the Great Lakes. The little auk (Alle (ale), only 8 in. long, shares with the black guillemot the name "dovekie"; it is a source of wealth to the Eskimo, who eat birds and eggs and make garments of the skins. When the young are grown all auks take to the ocean, spending 8 months on the stormy north Atlantic, south to the Azores.
The great auk (Plautus, or Alca, impennis), 3o in. long, had lost the power of flight and was reduced to extinction by boat crews about 1844. A few skins and eggs have been preserved.
The cliffs along the Pacific coast of North America, Alaska and the Aleutian islands are the home of 13 species of this family : the tufted puffin (Lunda cirrhata), the horned puffin (Fratercula corniculata), six auklets, three murrelets and Pacific representa tives of the black and common guillemot.