550 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
the top of the head, back of the neck, and all the 
rest of the upper parts, very dark lead-grey, almost 
black, the tips of the secondaries white; the front of 
the neck is dark sooty brown, almost black in sum- 
mer; the breast and all the under parts white; the 
legs, toes and webs very dark brownish black. In 
winter the chin, the lower part of the face under the 
eye, an irregular patch at the back of the eye, and 
the throat, are white: in this plumage it is the 
“Lesser Guillemot” of Bewick. 
The eggs, which are very large for the size of 
the bird, are pear-shaped, and differ immensely in 
colour; some in my collection have the ground 
white, but one is scrawled all over with pale orange- 
brown lines; others are spotted with black or dark 
brown; others again have a green ground and are 
spotted with black or dark brown: im fact, the 
variety seems almost endless. 
Buack Guintuemot, Uria grylle. One specimen of 
this bird, which is rare in all our southern counties, 
has been taken off St. Audries, near Quantoch’s Head, 
and is now in Mr. Sanford’s collection at Ninehead 
Court: it is a mature bird in winter plumage, but 
Mr. Sanford could not give me the exact date of its 
capture, though, from the plumage of the bird,— 
white, with only a few black feathers on the back,— 
it must have been taken during) the winter months. 
Montagu says a few Black Guillemots breed on the 
south coast of Wales near Tenby, and this may have 
