1121 



GUILLEMOTS. 



GUILLEMOTS. 



the long and slender bill of Aptmodytea. A similar gradation of 

 affinities between conterminous groups leads us back again to the 

 point from whence we started. Some species of the Linncean Alca, 

 which M. Temminck has united under the generic title of Phaleris 

 [ACK], with bills less elevated at the culmen, and more tapering than 

 that of Fratercula, lead us gradually to the Mergulus of Ray, the 

 Little Auk of our cabinets. [AuK.] This genus, strongly and dis- 

 tinctively separated both from Alca and Una, in the former of which 

 groups it has been placed by Linnaeus, and in the latter by M. 

 Temminck, may be considered as intermediate between them. It 

 thus brings us to Vria, where the pointed and tapering bill, again 

 discernible, reconducts us to Aptenodytes." (' Linn. Trans.,' vol. xiv.) 



Mr. Swainson, in the first part of the second volume of the 

 1 Classi6cation of Birds,' appears to differ from Mr. Vigors, for he 

 arranges the Guillemots, together with the Divers and Grebes, under 

 the Colymbidce. The Alcidce (Alcadcs) include, according to the same 

 author, the Penguins and the Puffins, and "all those singularly 

 constructed groups where the wings are abortive, or in other words 

 assume more the appearance, as they perform the office of fins ; " but 

 he remarks that the natural series of the genera have been com- 

 menced by some with Vria ; by others, with some of the Alcce, or 

 Puffins. In the ' Synopsis ' however, at the end of the volume, we 

 find Uria the first genus of the ' family A Icadce : Auks,' with the 

 observation that the individuals in this group are so few that the 

 author has not considered it expedient to adopt the sub-genera, 

 particularly as their natural series has not been marked out. The 

 genera which Mr. Swainson here places under the family Alcadee are 

 Uria, Briss. ; Alca, Linn.; Mormon, III; Chimerina, Esch.; 

 Phaleris, Temm. ; Aptenodytes, Foret. 



Uria. Bill moderate, robust, straight, acute, and compressed ; 

 upper mandible slightly curved towards the point ; the lower mandible 

 forming an angle more or less open. Nostrils basal, lateral, concave, 

 longitudinal, pervious, half shut by a large membrane covered with 

 feathers advancing on the bill. Feet short, plunged as it were in the 

 abdomen, BO that the lower end of the tibia only is perceptible, and 

 placed beyond the equilibrium of the body very far back ; tarsi 

 short, slender ; three toes only, all anterior and entirely webbed : 

 nails compressed, rather curved and sharp ; wings short, narrow, and 

 acute, the first quill longest ; tail very short, rounded. 



Bill of Common Guillemot (I'ria Trolle). 



Foot of Common Guillemot (Uria Troite], 



The Guillemots seem especially framed for existence in the arctic 

 and even polar regions, and are seldom, comparatively, found in the 

 warmer latitudes. In the north they swarm on all the rocks and 

 islets of the chilling seas. In the short but bright summer that gilds 

 some of their northern haunts, they make haste to deposit their eggs, 

 sometimes only one, on the bare rock, without wasting the precious 

 days in making a nest. On the naked ledge that overhangs the sea 

 the young Guillemot is hatched, and as soon as it is able to bear the 

 shock, is conducted or rather tumbles from its hard nursery into the 

 b<5som of the ocean, where a plentiful harvest is spread for it. Here 

 the Guillemots are indeed in their element ; plying their way with 

 wings and feet beneath the waves and even beneath the ice, they 

 make prey of the small fish and crustaceans, which form their prin- 

 cipal food. Their native rocks or the ice-caverns shelter them from 

 the storm, and it is only when the winter is more than hyperboreally 

 severe that some of these species are driven for a temporary resori 

 to more temperate climates. Their flight is sharp and rapid, thougl 

 of no long duration, and generally directed just above the surface of 

 the sea. The eggs, which are reckoned palatable, notwithstanding 

 their fishy diet, are thick in the shell, which has a dull appearance. 



Sir John Richardson notices Uria (Mergulus) Alle [AuK], among 

 the species which merely winter in Pennsylvania, and migrate in 

 summer to rear their young in the Fur Countries Uria Brunnichii 

 U. OryUe, and U. Alle in his list of birds detected in the North 



HAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. II. 



Georgian Islands and adjoining seas, in 73 to 75 N. lat., on Sir 

 Edward Parry's first voyage and U. Brunnichii, U. Troile, U. Grylle, 

 and U. Alle in the list of species common to the Old World and to 



he Fur Countries. U. Alle, U. Brunnichii, and U. Grylle occur in the 



ist of 'Greenland Birds' by Col. Sabine. 



In the table published by Sir John Richardson in ' Fauna Boreali- 

 Americana/ the following interesting information is given : 



Captain Sir James Ross (' Supplement to Sir John Ross's Last 

 Voyage') says that Uria Brunnichii abounds in Baffin's Bay, and is 

 found in most parts of the arctic seas, and that he has also met 

 with the species at Uist, the northernmost of the Shetland Islands, 

 and in several parts of Scotland ; but he observes that it has always 

 been confounded by authors with U. Troile, which it so nearly 

 resembles. He further states,, that Una Alle (Little Guillemot, 

 Little Auk of authors) collects during the breeding season in vast 

 numbers along the north and east coast of Baffin's Bay, but is seldom 

 to be met with far to the westward of Lancaster Sound. A few 

 were seen by the expedition near Leopold Island, and two or three 

 specimens were obtained. 



U. Troile, the Common Guillemot, Willock, or Tinkershere. 

 Description of both sexea (old) in their winter dress. Summit of the 

 head, space between the eye and the bill, longitudinal band behind 

 the eyes, and all the upper parts, of a velvety black slightly inclining 

 to ash : all the lower parts and the extremity of the secondaries pure 

 white : white is also found between the band behind the eyes and 

 the back of the nape, and advances towards the occiput, where it 

 forms on each side an open angle. The ashy blackish coloiir of the 

 lateral part of the neck seems to form towards the breast a kind of 

 collar, feebly indicated by bright ash. Bill ashy black ; inside of the 

 mouth livid yellow ; iris brown ; feet and toes yellowish-brown ; 

 posterior part of the tarsus and membranes black. Length from the 

 bill to the claws rather more than 15 or 16 inches. N.B. The female 

 is rather less than the male. In this state Temminck, whose 

 description we have given, considers the bird to be U. Suarbag and 

 Ringuia of Brunnich ; Colymbus minor of Gmelin ; Lesser Guillemot 

 of Pennant ; Der Dumme Lunime of Bechstein ; and Troillumme of 

 Meyer. 



Summer or Nuptial Plumage. Head, region of the eyes, throat, 

 and all the upper part of the neck of a velvety brown ; inside of 

 the mouth bright yellow : the rest of the plumage as in winter. 

 Thus clad it is Uria Lomvia of Brunnich; Colymbus Troile of 

 Linnaeus and Gmelin ; Le Guillemot of Buffou ; Foolish Guillemot of 

 Latham ; Uria Maggiore, ' Stor. degl. Ucc.' (Temminck). 



Young of the Year. Principally distinguished from the old birds 

 in their winter plumage, by the comparative shortness of the bill, 

 which is ashy and yellowish at the base; the black of the upper 

 parts is clouded with ash-colour ; the stripe or longitudinal baud is 

 not distinct, and mingles by means of ashy spots, with the white of 

 the sides of the occiput. Ashy-brown predominates on the lower 

 parts of the neck, and the white of the lower parts is not so pure ; 

 the tarsi and toes are of a livid yellowish hue. It is then Colymbus 

 macula nigrd pone ocinlos, 'Sander. Naturf. Gmel.,' i. p. 584, va. /3. 

 (Temminck). 



Accidental Varieties. No white on the secondary quills. M. 

 Temminck states that he killed an old Guillemot in the spring, which 

 had the whole of the back and the caudal feathers mottled with 

 yellowish-ashy stains. 



This species is the Gwilym and Chwilog (the latter term applicable 

 to the state in which Pennant calls it the Lesser Guillemot) of the 

 Welsh, and is called Willock in the South of England, Skout in 

 Yorkshire, and Kiddaw in Cornwall. The number of provincial 

 names is very great. 



This bird is found in the arctic seas of the Old and the New 

 Worlds ; migratory in winter in large companies along the coasts of 

 Norway and England ; very common at that time along the shores 

 of the Baltic and the maritime coasts of Holland and France ; more 

 rarely found " upon our seas and great lakes of the interior." (Tern- 

 minck.) Spitzbergen, Lapmark, and the White and Icy seas as 

 far as Kamtschatka. Along the whole coast of Hudson's Bay, 

 Labrador, and Newfoundland. (Nuttall.) The great body of 

 the American birds of this species winter in the Bay of Fundy. 

 (Audubon.) 



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