GUILLEMOT 



COMMON GUILLEMOT FOOLISH GUILLEMOT TARROCK- 

 SCOUT WILLOCK. 



PLATES CCV. AND CCVI. 



Una troile, .... LATHAM. STEPHENS. 

 Lomvia troile, .... COUES. 



THE Guillemot, which breeds in suitable places through- 

 out the British Islands, makes no nest, but lays her 

 single egg upon the bare rock. Countless numbers of these 

 birds breed together on the rocks or cliffs that abut upon the 

 ocean, thinking there to find security. Incubation continues 

 for a month. The hen alone sits, and the male does not 

 feed her, but if she be killed after the young one is hatched, 

 he continues to feed it. The old bird is believed to convey 

 her young down to the sea on her back. 



The eggs are very large in proportion to the size of 

 the 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. Some are white, more or less 

 spotted with brown, and others again bluish green, blotted 

 and streaked with dark reddish brown or black. Some are 

 entirely green or white, without any streaks or blotches. 

 The shape of the egg, which is very tapering, prevents it 



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