CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 85 



small numbers at all the nesting stations of the other 

 rock birds, breeding on the same ledges, and mixing 

 with the Common Guillemots. 



The specimens in the case were obtained partly at 

 the Bass Kock, in the Firth of Forth, in May, 1867, 

 and the remainder at the Fern Islands, off the coast of 

 Northumberland, the following month. 



COMMON GUILLEMOT.— (Summer.) 



Case 85. 



The unfortunate habit of believing everyone to be 

 honest till proved to be otherwise, and trusting them 

 accordingly, has gained for this confiding bird the 

 name of" Foolish Guillemot." 



This, if not the commonest, is one of the most 

 numerous of our sea birds, breeding in large colonies 

 at hundreds of stations round the British Islands, 



Though not usually considered fit for table, they 

 are extensively used as an article of food on some of 

 the barren islands in the North. 



The parent birds are stated (though I have never 

 had the good fortune to be myself a witness of the 

 proceedings) to carry down their young on their backs 

 from the ledges on which they are hatched. Numbers 

 that are knocked over by accident fall into the water, 

 but appear to receive no injury, unless striking against 

 the rocks in their descent. 



I reared one myself that dropped over two hundred 

 feet from one of the highest ledges on the west side 

 of the Bass Kock, and only missed the gunwale of my 

 l)oat by about half a yard. 



Though the eggs of the Guillemot differ in a most 



