THE COMMON GUILLEMOT. 



URIA TROILE. 



Bill much compressed, longer than the head, grejish black ; upper plumage 

 brownish black ; the secondaries tipped with white ; a whitish patch 

 behind the eye on each side;> under plumage white; feet dusky; iris 

 broAvn. Length nearly eighteen inches. Eggs greenish or bluish, blotched 

 and streaked with black. 



This is one of our common sea-birds during a great por- 

 tion of the year, though little known to sea-side visitors, 

 owing to its habit of keejDing well out to sea and ha\4ng 

 notliing ostentatious in its habits. Yet, during a cruise in 

 a yacht, on almost any part of the coast, a practised eye 

 will often discover a few stragglers, distinguished among 

 other sea-birds by their black and white colours, short 



