BLACK GUILLEMOT, l;).i 



Some, says Montagu, used to build near Tenby, in Wales. 

 Pennant, in like manner, relates that in his time the species 

 had several breeding-places along the coasts of the Principality. 



It is altogether a marine bird, and is scarcely ever seen 

 on land, except for the purpose of incubation. 



These Guillemots are by no means shy, and may be taken 

 off their eggs with the hand. They associate in a friendly 

 manner among other species as well as among themselves. 

 They are readily tamed. The male and female appear to be 

 much attached to each other. 



This bird is strong and able on the wing, flying at a low 

 elevation; so it is also, in its way, in diving, using its pinions 

 below the surface, as if in flight in the air. 'The Black 

 Guillemot,' says Macgillivray, 'sits lightly on the water, paddles 

 about in a very lively manner, dives with rapidity, opening 

 its wings a little like the other species, and moves under 

 water with great speed.' They appear to be able to keep 

 underneath for about two minutes. 



They feed on small fish and Crustacea, sea-insects, and 

 worms. 



The note is said to be soft. 



This species pairs about the middle of March, and the 

 eggs are laid in the beginning or more usually by the middle 

 of June. They are hatched in twenty-four days. The bird 

 sits very close, so as to be easily taken on the eggs. Two 

 or more couples have been known to lay under one piece of 

 rock. 



The bare earth, or rather the bare rock, or a crevice in 

 it, is the only bed sought for by this species, for the purpose 

 of nidification. Mr. Hewitson writes as follows: — 'On some 

 of the* islands which present a steep precipice to the sea, 

 they make use of holes or crevices in the roeks, in which 

 the eggs are laid at various distances from the mouth of 

 the hole — from one to two feet, which is most usual, to three 

 or four. On other islands less precipitous, it deposits them 

 in cavities under or between fragments of rock and large 

 stones, with which the beach is strewed. In one place 

 several pairs rear their young ones in crannies between the 

 stones which form the ruins of an old wall, on the top of 

 a single rock at sea, and at an elevation of fifty or sixty 

 feet above its surface. The Black Guillemot resorts annually 

 to the same holes.' 



The eggs are two in number, and of a white colour, with 



