40 OUR BARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



GUILLEMOT, BLACK. 



THE Black Guillemot is common enough in nearly 

 all suitable places I have visited on the west 

 side of Scotland and in the Shetlands. It is also 

 said to be common in the Orkneys, and on the 

 north and west coasts of Ireland. The Isle of 

 Man is credited with a few pairs still, I believe, 

 but I have never met with the bird at the Fame 

 Islands, the Bass Kock, or in fact anywhere on 

 the east coast. Whilst in St. Kilda I often had 

 opportunities of studying the species within a few 

 yards of me, by sitting perfectly still on the rocks 

 just above high-water mark, and allowing them to 

 swim into some little sheltered corner close to 

 where their mates were sitting. Their black 

 plumage and large white wing patches readily distin- 

 guish them at a considerable distance in the water, 

 and, although they are meek, inoffensive-looking 

 little creatures, I have upon occasion seen them 

 fight quite furiously. Our illustration represents 

 Finlay McQuien, the champion cragsman of St. 

 Kilda, pointing into a fissure in which Black 

 Guillemots breed every year. 



In spite of the fact that most of the west side 

 of North Uist is sandy and unsuitable to the 

 breeding habits of the species, I saw several odd 

 birds there last June, arguing the presence of sitting 

 mates somewhere in the immediate neighbourhood. 

 I was shown a little cave in which a Black Guille- 

 mot and Eock Dove nested within a few inches of 

 each other last year. The former deposited its eggs 

 in a hole gouged out of the rock by some forgotten 

 tempest, and the latter in a horizontal fissure at 

 a similar height, but in a different trend of rock. 



