THE BLACK GUILLEMOT 297 



It is in its nuptial garb at any rate quite a 

 striking bird, for the broad white band across each 

 wing and the intense vermilion of its legs and feet 

 afford a delightful contrast to its otherwise sooty 

 livery. The time of its return to the breeding- 

 stations is somewhat variable ; one year the birds 

 begin to dribble in during April's birth week, the 

 next, May has turned before they bethink them 

 once again of their rocky fastness. Let us follow 

 them thither and see what we can. 



It is mid- April, and the scene is laid off a 

 certain portion of the Mayo coast. Here, although 

 the Black Guillemots or " Mother Carey's Hens," 

 as they are termed in some parts of Erin, as in 

 Achill for instance have not all returned to their 

 ancestral domain, we find at any rate a party of 

 ten disporting themselves in a sheltered and tiny 

 bay between the cliffs of the mainland and those of 

 several diminutive stack-rocks close in shore. Half 

 a dozen are placidly floating on the water, the other 

 quartet squatting on some low, partially-submerged 

 boulders at the base of one of the islets. It will 

 be just as well not to attempt too close an 

 approach, for, although fairly confiding, the Black 

 Guillemot is certainly shyer than the common 

 species and the Razorbill. So a perch on the 

 summit of a low cliff presents ample facilities for 

 studying them. 



It is very noticeable that, although all the birds 

 are fairly close together, each pair keep somewhat 



