Diving Birds of North America : Species Accounts — Auks (Alcidae)

• Main Author: Johnsgard, Paul A.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 1987
• Subjects: Ornithology; Burrows; Pacific; Toe The; Atlantic puffin; Black guillemot; Common Murre; Dovekie; Great auk; Razorbill; thick-billed murre
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscidivingbirds/11; https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=bioscidivingbirds

Auks are small to medium-sized diving birds having bills that are variably pointed and compressed but never acuminate and are sometimes covered with colorful horny sheaths in breeding adults. Feathering densely covers the lores and often extends to the nostrils, which vary from linear to oval. There...