BRUNNICH'S GUILLEMOT. 217 



ning behind the eye, and the colour of the head and 

 upper parts of the neck assimilates more nearly in 

 tint with that of the back, and looses in part the 

 agreeable brownish tinge and soft feel perceived at 

 other times. In the young, before the appearance of 

 feathers, the dark parts of the adult, in summer, are 

 of a dull greyish black, the hair-like down having 

 white tips, the under parts white. 



BRUNNICH'S GUILLEMOT, URIA BRUNNICHII, So- 

 bine. U. Brunnichii^ Flem. Guillemot a gros 

 bee, Temm. Brunnich, or Thick-billed Guille- 

 mot of British authors. This species rests its claim 

 as British on a very few specimens. It was seen by 

 Capt. Sabine in July on the coast of Kerry, was met 

 with in Shetland by Capt. James C. Ross, and there 

 is a specimen in the Edinburgh Museum said to 

 have been received from Orkney. On the Euro- 

 pean coasts it is also very rare, and ranges north- 

 ward to the Feroe Islands and Iceland, Baffin's Bay, 

 and the Arctic Seas. Our own specimen was pro- 

 cured from a whaler, and was, we believe, killed in 

 Davis Straits. On the American shores it appears 

 also to be rare ; Audubon " never met with it on 

 the coasts of our midland districts," neither did he 

 find it breeding on his excursion to Labrador. His 

 specimens were procured from Eastport on Maine 

 and forwarded in ice to him ; a useful hint, for we 

 believe that many of the Arctic species of birds, 

 which it would be of advantage to examine fresh, 



