THE GUILLEMOT. MS 



at .the nostril from '30 to '22 inch. Greater variations may have occurred to 

 other observers. 



The young in down is brownish-black above and dusky white below. 



I have seen white varieties of the Guillemot in the Tromso Museum and Mr. 

 Whitaker's collection. Other examples, as well as pied and pale-coloured ones, 

 have been recorded. Particulars of a variety with the bill and feet yellow may 

 be found in the "Zoologist" for 1877, and "Birds from Moidart." 



The bird known as the Ringed or Bridled Guillemot was formerly considered 

 as a district species fUria lachrymans, vel ringviaj, and Dr. Sharpe, in his work 

 on " British Birds," still treats it as such ; but most ornithologists are now 

 inclined to consider it merely a form of the Common Guillemot. It differs from 

 the typical bird only in having the eye encircled by a white line, which is con- 

 tinued backwards and downwards from the hind corner of the eye, for a short 

 distance, along the furrow in the feathers on the side of the head. This mark is 

 found in young as well as in old birds. Intermediate forms are said to be found, 

 but some ornithologists have stated that the difference between the two is always 

 well marked. But one example showing intermediate conditions has undoubtedly 

 occurred. This was shot by Mr. E. A. S. Elliot, and has one side of the head 

 distinctly " bridled," while the other side is without any trace of this marking (" Birds 

 of Devon"). Both forms always occur in company, but the Ringed form is always 

 the rarer ; the proportion of Ringed birds to those of the ordinary form varies at 

 different breeding stations, and has been stated at one in ten or twelve at some, 

 and at one in five at Flamborough by Seebohm. With the aid of a good glass 

 the Ringed birds can easily be distinguished on the rocky ledges. Common and 

 Ringed birds have been seen paired. Saxby, however, although he had obtained 

 couples (male and female) of the Ringed form, never saw the two forms together 

 except in flocks, and he asserted positively that each description of bird returned 

 to breed in the same spot annually. He caused birds of each form to be kept in 

 captivity ; young birds were selected, and lived five years without the marks 

 disappearing in the one case or appearing in the other. Gatcombe informed Mr. 

 Howard Saunders that all the Ringed birds he had examined appeared to have 

 the appertures of the eye, when measured with the compass, larger than in the 

 ordinary bird. 



VOL VI. 



