GUILLEMOT. 147 



bird, and more than ordinarily narrowed at one end and 

 widened at the other. They vary in an extraordinary manner, 

 and a description of the principal varieties only would be 

 almost endless, 'adeo sunt multa.' Some are entirely white, 

 others more or less spotted with brown, and others again 

 bluish green, blotted and streaked with dark reddish brown 

 or black. Some are entirely green. 'The shape of the egg^ 

 which is very tapering, prevents it from rolling off into 

 the sea; for when moved by the wind, or other circum- 

 stances, it only rolls round its own circle, without changing 

 its first immediate situation.' If the first egg be taken a 

 second is laid, and if the second, a third. 



J. W. Pease, Esq., of North Lodge, Darlington, has favoured 

 me with drawings of a series of the principal varieties of the 

 eggs of the Guillemot. 



In their breeding-places they choose separate ledges of 

 rock for themselves, apart and quite distinct from the other 

 kinds which rear their young in the same situations. 



The young are able to take to the water when about five 

 or six weeks old. 



Male; weight, from a pound and a half to a pound and 

 three quarters; length, one foot five to one foot six inches; 

 bill, bluish black: both mandibles are slightly notched near 

 their points. The inside of the mouth is rich yellow; iris, 

 very dark brown. Behind the eye a narrow line, formed 

 by a division of the feathers, runs backwards and down- 

 wards. Head, crown, neck on the upper part, nape, chin, 

 and throat, in summer dusky black; in winter the crown 

 of the head and back part of the neck are brown, or 

 mouse-coloured; the front white. The feathers are short, 

 and very close set. Breast, white, the flanks streaked with 

 blackish grey. Back, greyish black, more or less tinged 

 with brown. 



The wings measure in extent about two feet three and a 

 half to two feet four inches; greater and lesser wing coverts, 

 dull black; primaries, dull black. The secondaries are dull 

 black, tipped with white, which colours form a bar across 

 the wings; tertiaries, dull black. Legs and toes, dusky brown- 

 ish black; lobes, dusk}^ brownish black. 



During the autumnal moult, so to call it, for it often begins 

 so soon as the end of June, or beginning of July, they frequently 

 lose such a number of the quill feathers as to be unable to fly. 



The female is slightly less in size than the male. 



