bRUNNICII S GUILLEMOT. I2l 



lower primary-coverts and inner surface of quills ashy-brown. 

 Total length, 15 inches; culmen, i-6 ; wing, 8*9; tail, i'85; 

 tarsus, 1-4 



Adult in Winter Plumage. — Black above, white below ; the 

 lores and sides of the face being blackish, and not chocolate- 

 brown as in the summer plumage, where they are in contrast 

 to the black head ; the hinder cheeks and sides of the neck 

 showing a white patch which is more or less mottled with 

 black, as is also the lower throat ; the upper throat white, with 

 a black spot on the chin ; the swollen base of the cutting edge 

 of the mandible less distinctly marked. 



Young. — Resembles the adult in winter plumage, but is whiter 

 on the throat and sides of the neck, these parts not having the 

 black mottling of the adult. A young female obtained by Dr. 

 Stejneger on Bering Island, on the 3rd of January, had the " bill 

 dark, almost blackish, bluish-grey, with a light spot on the 

 genys in front of the angle ; feet light bluish pearl-grey, with a 

 faint yellowi.'ih tinge in front (not greenish, however), the joints 

 darker bluish-grey, underneath blackish-grey." 



Characters. — The thick bill, with its enamelled appearance 

 near the gape, distinguishes Briinnich's Guillemot from Uria 

 troile at a glance, and I am unable to comprehend Seebohm's 

 conclusion that it is so little recognisable as to be merely a 

 race of U. troile. In my opinion U. b^'uennichi is almost generi- 

 cally distinct from U. troile, while its blacker coloration, with the 

 contrast between the black head and the deep chocolate-brown 

 on the sides of the face and neck, is most marked. It is 

 thoroughly distinct from U. troile as a species. I have been 

 unable to separate Uria arra from U. bruennichi^ as is done by 

 the American ornithologists, who insist on its larger size and less 

 svrollen tomium. Specimens from Spitsbergen and the Kuril 

 Islands have the tomium equally distinct and the wing of the 

 same length (8'4-8*5). A Greenland specimen has the wing 

 8*8 inches. 



Range in Great Britain. — Seebohm speaks of Briinnich's 

 Guillemot as " a very rare straggler to the British Islands in 

 autumn and winter, having been most frequently observed in 

 the Orkneys and extreme north of Scotland," but, he adds, 

 " there can be litde doubt that it is often overlooked and con- 



