'52 BRITISH BIRDS WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



recorded from Hudson's Bay, Baffin Bay, the Taimar Peninsula, Bennett Island, 

 and, in winter, in Bering Sea. Dr. Nansen saw a Black Guillemot in latitude 

 82 30' N. in May 1895, and in June the party in the From shot some between 

 latitude 84 and 85 ("Farthest North"). 



During the Arctic Expedition of 1875-6, Colonel H. W. Feilden found the 

 "Dovekie" breeding along the shores of Smith Sound at various places; but it 

 did not, he thought, breed north of Cape Union. He saw two or three stragglers 

 as far north as latitude 82 33' ("Ibis" 1877, p. 410). 



The Black Guillemot makes no nest, but lays its eggs (two in number, 

 although some authors have stated that three are often laid) in cliffs and fissures 

 in cliffs, frequently at no great distance above the sea, or in holes under large 

 rocks, and among loose masses of rock on beaches. Saxby found the eggs fifty 

 or sixty yards inland, on grassy slopes strewn with rocks ; and the birds have 

 been known to utilize the crevices in an old stone wall. The eggs are sometimes 

 deposited at a distance of three or four feet from the entrance of the hole. 



The birds return to the same holes year after year, and both sexes take part 

 in the incubation of the eggs. These are seldom laid, in the Shetlands, before 

 the beginning of June, some eggs being dropped all through that month. The 

 young are said to remain in the nesting place until they are fully, or almost fully, 

 feathered. In shape the eggs resemble those of the Razorbill. They measure about 

 2 '35 inches in length by about i'6 inches in breadth. 



The ground colour is usually either white or tinged with pale blue ; more 

 rarely it is tinged with pale yellowish or warm brown. The surface markings 

 take the form of spots or blotches, largest arid most numerous about the largest 

 diameter of the egg, where they are sometimes confluent and form an irregular 

 zone : their colour varies from umber and rich chocolate brown to nearly black ; 

 the underlying markings, which are very noticeable, are cold- and lavender-grey. 



Hewitson never painted any more beautiful eggs than the three specimens of 

 this species, which adorn Plate xxxvi of the first edition of his work. 



Mr. P. Ralfe states that the low piping cry of this bird (described by Colonel 

 Feilden as a " plaintive whine ") is sometimes very constantly repeated, and he 

 has heard it uttered by a little party of birds while on the wing. The Black 

 Guillemot flies well and fast, in a direct line, somewhat like a Quail, its short 

 wings are beaten rapidly, and when the bird is in summer dress the patch of 

 white on the wings, contrasting with the black of the rest of the plumage, has a 

 curious effect. They are very neat and pretty birds. When steaming up the 

 fjords and along the coast of Norway, between Trondhjem and Haininerfest, in 

 June, we frequently fell in with them, and they often passed close to the steamer; 



