birds' nests. 171 



as "that rare bird the Bridled Guillemot." Both sexes have this line or 

 stripe, as I myself have ascertained in several instances, and an example 

 of which you have in two specimens before you. In addition I may mention 

 that I have found old birds of the common species, Una troile, become 

 lighter in colour than young ones, while the reverse is the case with 

 lachryrnans, the young of which is the lightest in shade, the old bird being 

 much darker, approaching in some specimens to pure black. The female 

 of troile is said by Temminck and others to be smaller than the male; in 

 lachrymans the superior size is in the female. These differences may be 

 advanced, you observe, from actual comparison; yet with a greater number 

 of specimens before us we might have occasion to reverse them. 



I offer these remarks without any conviction regarding the subject which 

 has given rise to a difference of opinion amongst ornithologists. For my 

 own part I feel quite willing to allow our lachrymose Marrot to remain 

 registered as a variety until we have sufficient demonstration to the contrary. 



I may add it is found all over the British coasts, specimens having been 

 procured from almost every breeding station where the Common Guillemot 

 abounds. The localities whence I have obtained the examples before you 

 are, Iona, Loch Sunart, and Ailsa Craig. With reference to the last-named 

 place, I beg to acknowledge my obligations to John Graham, Esq., Surgeon, 

 Girvan, in whose company I have visited it, and from whom I have received 

 every assistance in collecting specimens for examination. 



I have thus endeavoured to give you as full a history of this bird as 

 our published accounts and my own private investigations will admit of; 

 and lay before you these remarks with a view to draw closer attention 

 to the subject, as I believe in this, as well as in other subjects of divided 

 opinion amongst naturalists, facts, and hence the truth, can only be gained 

 by continued and patient research. 



Glasgow, July, 1857. 



BIRDS' NESTS. 



BY 0. S. BOUND, ESQ. 



(Continued from page 146.) 



The Snipe genus, in which I include all those having the characteristic 

 length of bill and leg, affect very much the same localities, and use aquatic 

 sedges and a few feathers in building; and although their eggs differ much 

 of course in minute particulars, they are yet all speckled with the shades 

 of black, white, brown, and olive, as a general rule. But when we come 

 to the Heron tribe, we find a great difference in their manners; for whilst 

 the Bitterns inhabit and breed in the marshes, the Herons nest in trees, 

 and the Cranes and Storks in old buildings, all laying, more or less, bluish 



