488 ALCIDA4 
BRUNNICH’S GUILLEMOT. JUria bruennichi (E. Sabine). 
Coloured Figures.—Dresser, ‘Birds of Europe,’ vol. viii, pl. 
622; Lilford, ‘Coloured Figures,’ vol. vi, pls. 39, 40. 
This Guillemot, abundant in the breeding-season over a 
vast area of the mainland and islands in the Arctic Ocean, 
also along the American sea-board of the North Atlantic? 
and in Behring Sea, is a very rare visitor to British waters ; 
it resembles generally the Common species, from which, 
however, it may be distinguished by its superior size, 
stouter and deeper beak, and more curved and darker 
plumage on the upper parts. 
Four authenticated specimens have been obtained in 
England as follows :—One, December 7th, 1894, at Scar- 
borough (Harting, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1895, p. 70, and Proc. Linn. 
Soc., January 17th, 1895); two, January 30th, 1895, at 
Filey (Grabham, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1895); and one, January 
12th, 1895, in Cambridgeshire (Tuck, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1895, 
p- 70). It is interesting to note that three of the four 
birds were procured from the same neighbourhood along 
the Yorkshire coast, and that all were taken much about 
the same time. Thus it seems evident that a visitation 
consisting of several Brinnich’s Guillemots frequented the 
seas of the east side of England in that particular season. 
Three other specimens, probably British, have been 
recorded, viz. :—One from Caithness, once in the Sinclair 
collection at Wick; another sent from the Orkneys, found 
by Macgillivray among skins belonging to the late Mr. 
Wilson, janitor to the University of Edinburgh; a third 
from the mouth of the River Orwell, in Suffolk (Saunders). 
DESCRIPTIYE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial——Top of head and back 
of neck, glossy greenish-black ; back, scapulars, wings, and 
tail, darker black ; sides of head, throat, and fore-neck, very 
dark sooty-brown ; secondaries, edged with white, forming 
1 On September 8rd, 1906, I observed several birds which I believe 
were of this species, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence not far from the Straits 
of Bellisle. Among them were Puffins, Razorbills, and Common Guille- 
mots. The birds swam quite close to the ship, and I kept them in view 
for several minutes with a powerful Zeiss prism-binocular. 
