BLACK GUILLEMOT. 337 



Dr. Fleming, who, following Cuvier, as he thinks, but 

 erroneously, refers it to a separate genus, Cephus, because its 

 upper mandible, instead of a notch, has only a sinus, gives to 

 this genus the English name Scraber, thus continuing Martin's 

 blunder. He also makes the e^^ solitary, but says it is 

 " white, with black and grey spots." 



Mr. Selby, folloAving M. Temminck, rectifies Dr. Fleming's 

 mistake as to the genus, but continues Scraber among the 

 provincial names, and repeats the error of its having one e^^. 

 IMr. Jenyns gives an accurate description, chiefly translated 

 fi-om Temminck, but keeps to the one eg^, although in a note 

 he states that a writer in Loudon's Magazine often found two. 

 Mr. Audubon finds two or three. 



My reference to these authors does not suggest anything 

 to add to what I have already stated, unless the distribution 

 of this species, which in Britain has all its breeding-places to 

 the 7iorth of the Tweed and Solway. The most southern 

 localities with which I am acquainted are the Bass Hock and 

 the Isle of May, at the mouth of the Firth of Forth. In the 

 north of Scotland, it is extremely abundant in favourable 

 situations. Mr. Low says that in Orkney it continues the 

 whole year in the sounds, fishing in all kinds of weather. 

 Dr. Edmondston, in a short account of the Birds of Shetland, 

 wilh which he has favoured me, says it "lays two, sometimes 

 three eggs, in rocky crevices, not far above the water, and 

 generally has two young. The old birds change in winter to 

 grey and black speckled. The young are of a more uniform 

 and paler grey. The legs of the former are red, those of the 

 latter black." It is quite unnecessary to consult more writers 

 on the subject of its distribution in Britain. It has been 

 stated to occur in all the northern seas of Europe, on the 

 coasts of the Baltic, Norway, Feroe, Iceland, Greenland, 

 Labrador, and in winter as far south as Maryland. 



Young. — The young at first have the bill dusky, the feet 

 brown, the skin covered with soft down of a blackish-brown 

 colour. When fledged, they have the bill black, the feet of a 

 dingy or blackish-red, the inside of the mouth dusky-red. 

 The cheeks, throat, and all the lower parts, are greyish-white, 



VOL, V. z 



