lit 



GUILLEMOT. 



COMMON OUILLEMOT. FOOLISH GUILLEMOT. TARROCK. SCOUT. WILLOCK. 

 LESSER GUILLEMOT. SEA HEN. 



PLATES CCV AND CCVI. 



TJria troile, LATHAM. STEPHENS. 



Uria minor, STEPHENS. 



THE Guillemot makes no nest, but lays her single egg upon the 

 barren rock. Countless numbers of these birds breed together on the 

 rocks or cliffs that abut upon the ocean, thinking there to find that 

 security, which indeed they would find were it not for the superiority 

 of mind over instinct. Incubation continues for a month. 



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 prin- 

 cipal varieties only would be almost endless, f 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 circumstances, it only rolls round its 

 own circle, without changing its first immediate situation/ 



