PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 7 



second time. Average size of 29 eggs, 4'89 x 3'01 in. [124*3 x 76*4 mm.). In shape 

 they resemble the eggs of the razorbill, but are of course much larger, and the ground- 

 colour varies from whitish to stone-grey, yellowish, yellowish brown, and reddish 

 yellow, while some eggs show faint traces of bluish green. In many cases exposure 

 to light for long periods has resulted in the colours fading. The markings vary 

 much in character. Some eggs are very sparingly marked, others exceedingly 

 richly with spots, blotches, streaks, and smears of deep sepia-brown shading into 

 black, which are sometimes concentrated at the big end. The presence of incubation 

 spots in skins of both sexes shows that both male and female took part in incubation. 

 [F. c. B. J.] 



5. Food. Little authentic information is available with regard to the food of 

 this species, but there is small doubt that its diet consisted chiefly of fish. Amongst 

 the species recorded are the lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus), the sea-scorpion (Cottus 

 scorpio), and some species of the herring genus (Clupea). Blasius also suggests 

 that crabs were eaten, as well as other lower forms of marine animals. [F. c. B. J.] 



BLACK-GUILLEMOT [Cepphus grylle (Linnaeus). Dovekie, Greenland 

 dove, tystie, sea-pigeon. French, guillemot a miroir blanc ; German, Gryll- 

 Teist]. [No Italian name is given, as it has not been recorded from that 

 country. F. c. E. J.] 



i. Description. The black-guillemot is readily distinguished from its 

 allies by the large patch of white in the wing, and the vermilion-red legs. The sexes 

 are alike, and there is a distinct summer and winter dress. (PI. 96.) Length 11 in. 

 [279 '40 mm.]. The adult male, in summer, is of a sooty black, with a green 

 iridescent sheen ; and all the wing-coverts of the fore-arm, save only those of the 

 marginal series, are white, forming a large and conspicuous white patch. The under 

 wing-coverts and axillaries are also white. The eye is dark brown, the feet vermilion- 

 red, the beak black, the inside of the mouth reddish orange. In the winter dress the 

 crown, nape, and back of the neck are black with broad white fringes, giving the 

 plumage a hoary appearance. The scapulars are black, broadly edged with white. 

 The feathers of the lower back are black, broadly tipped with white, and on the rump 

 the black is entirely obscured by white. The wings as in summer. There is a black 

 patch in front of the eye. The under parts are pure white. This plumage is worn 

 but for a very short period, and the transitional state presents an indescribable 

 admixture of black and white, especially on the under parts. During the moult the 



