542 ALCID^E. 



neck, and sharp beak. They swim low in the water ; and 

 when disturbed do not invariably dive like the Grebes and 

 Divers, but readily take wing. They are essentially marine 

 birds, never resorting to fresh water, and living exclusively 

 on fish, which they capture by diving, an art in which 

 they are scarcely less skilful than the true Divers, and 

 which they practise in the same way by the means, 

 namely, of both wings and feet. Occasionally, a small 

 party may be observed, flying in single file near the sur- 

 face of the water. On the eastern coast of England, the 

 Guillemot is best known by the name of Willock. It is 

 also called Tinker's Hue, or, as Yarrell gives it, " Tinker- 

 shere ; " and in the west of England it is often called a 

 Murr. The old writers describe it under the name of 

 Greenland Dove, or Sea Turtle-Dove ; and in Scotland it 

 has a variety of other names. Tinker's Hue is, I pre- 

 sume, the soubriquet of a white bird with a smutty back ; 

 Murr is clearly a corruption of Mergus, or " diver." Yet 

 more commonly it is known as the " Foolish Guillemot," 

 a term of reproach analogous to that of " Booby," given to 

 it from the indifference which it evinces, in the breeding 

 season, to one of its few, but that one the most formidable 

 of its enemies, man. Early in spring Guillemots throng 

 together from all parts of the open sea, and repair 

 to some lofty cliff, where, on a narrow ledge of rock, 

 which in their folly they deem inaccessible, they lay 

 each a single egg. As the bird incubates in an erect 

 position, she could not well cover more than one ; and 

 though a concave nest is very needful to keep eggs 

 together when there are several, no such contrivance is 

 necessary when there is one only ; so the Foolish Guillemot 

 builds no nest, but lays a solitary egg on the bare rock. 

 The egg, which is large, is thick-shelled and rough, so 

 that it receives no detriment from the rock ; and it is not 

 likely to roll off, for at one end it is thick, and at the 

 other tapers almost to a point; consequently, if acci- 



