LARGE-BILLED GUILLEMOT. 529 



also predominates on the lower part of the neck, and the white of the 

 lower parts is less pure. The tarsus and toes are of a livid yellow- 

 ish, and the webs are brown. 



LARGE-BILLED GUILLEMOT. 



(Uria Brunnichii, Sabine, Greenland Birds, p. 538. No. 14, &c. 

 Tkmm. Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 924. Bonap. Synops. No. 374. Rich. 

 and SwAi.vs. North. Zool. ii. p. 477. U. Francsii, Leach. V. 

 troille, Brunn. Orn. Boreal. No. 109. nee. Lath.) 



Sp. Charact. — Reddish-black ; beneath white ; secondaries white 

 at tip ; feet greenish; bill as long as the head, dilated and broad 

 at base ; upper mandible three times as long as broad. — Summer 

 plumao-e, with the whole head black. 



This is another inhabitant of the glacial seas of the hy- 

 perboreal regions of both continents ; being very common 

 in Greenland, Spitzbergen, Davis' Straits, Baffin's Bay, 

 and in the remotest parts of Arctic America that have yet 

 been visited. Occasionally, the young, and more rarely the 

 old, are also seen on the coasts of the Northern and Middle 

 States in the course of the winter. Its habits, as distinct 

 from the preceding, with which it has generally been con- 

 founded, are unknown. 



The length of the species is about 18 inches ; the tail 2 inches 9 

 lines ; the wing 8 inches 3 lines ; the bill above, 1 inch 2 lines ; the 

 bill to the rictus 2 inches ; tarsus 1 inch 4 lines ; middle toe 1 inch 7 

 lines. The top of the head and upper plumage reddish-black. Head 

 beneath the level of the eye, and the front of the neck, pitch-black. 

 Tips of the secondaries and the under plumage white } the white 

 indenting the black of the base of the neck in an acute angular form. 

 Bill bluish-black, paler at the base. Rictus bright yellow. The bill 

 wider at the base, shorter, and less compressed than in U. troille. 

 Under mandible higher, with a much shorter and more prominent 

 gonys ; commissure more curved. A suture on the pkimage behind 

 the eye as in U. troille. The winter plumage undergoes changes 

 45 



