COMMON GUILLEMOT. 73 



Southwards its winter range extends as far as the Canary 

 Islands, but it seldom goes any distance up the Mediter- 

 ranean. On the American side of the Atlantic it occurs 

 regularly from New England in winter up to about 60** N. lat. 

 in summer; and it has been obtained atGodthaab in Green- 

 land about 4° further north. In the North Pacific it is 

 represented by a closely allied and very doubtfully distinct 

 form, Uria californica, Bryant. 



In former Editions of this work the Ringed or Bridled 

 Guillemot was figured and described with the concluding 

 remark by the Author, that " opinions seemed fairly balanced 

 as to whether this bird is a species or a variety." Since those 



lines were written the general opinion of ornithologists has 

 inclined to consider it as merely a race with a tendency to 

 develop an unusual amount of white encircling the eye and 

 running along the crease or furrow which passes thence 

 down the sides of the head. It inhabits the same localities, 

 and is always found in company with the common species, 

 but in far inferior numbers. At Lundy Island it is rare, so 

 it is at Flamborough. On the Fame Islands, where the 

 Editor had an opportunity of watching the breeding Guille- 

 mots at a very short distance, he observed several birds with 

 well-developed eye-rings and streaks, sitting on their eggs, 

 whilst others exhibited gradations from the above to the 

 usual furrow with only a few white feathers at its junction 



VOL. IV. L 



