BLACK-GUILLEMOT 39 



is made, the numerous air-bubbles clinging to the plumage give the 

 bird a singular but remarkably beautiful appearance. 1 The average 

 duration of each submergence is as nearly as possible twenty-four 

 seconds, the bird making a slight sudden splash with its wings as it 

 disappears." He adds that it dives so quickly that it is not easy to 

 shoot on the water. Instead of diving, it often runs along the surface, 

 flapping its wings, and striking the water with its feet more quickly 

 than a coot. 2 



The black-guillemot differs from the other British breeding Auks 

 not only in laying two eggs, but in that the young quit the nest only 

 when able to fly, 3 that is, leave it for the water, for, when a fortnight 

 old, they will come out of the holes and stand at the entrance to 

 receive food.* How long the young continue to be fed after they 

 have taken to the water is uncertain. So also are the winter move- 

 ments of the species. They are said to be less oceanic in their habitat 

 than their congeners ; they prefer sheltered waters along the coast to 

 the open sea. 5 According to Naumann, they suffer considerably during 

 stormy weather, many being washed ashore dead. But in British 

 waters their bodies are rarely found among those of their congeners 

 tossed up on the beach, a fact which emerges very clearly from the 

 lists of casualties published after the great storms of February 1872. 6 



1 The same applies more or less to most, if not all, diving birds. 



2 Ussher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 366. 



3 Patten, Aquatic Birds, p. 490. 



4 Naumann, Vogel Mitteleuropas, xii. 240. 



5 Patten, Aquatic Birds, p. 490 ; but cf. Naumann, op. cit., p. 240, who states that, while the 

 young of the year remain in the sheltered bays all the winter, the old remain on the open sea, 

 except when driven in by storms. 



6 Zoologist, 1872, 2994, 3023. See also Patten, Aquatic Birds, p. 490. 



