678 



GUILLEMOT. 



The generic characters are : the bill of a middle 

 size.or rather short, very stout, straight, pointed, com- 

 pressed laterally, sharp at the tip, and with a distinct 

 notch near the extremity of the upper mandible ; the 

 nostrils are at the base of the bill, lateral, longitudinal, 

 half closed by a feathered membrane, which acts 

 partially like a valve ; the legs are short, placed far 

 backward with slender tar*i, and only three toes, all 

 turned to the front, and webbed. The wings are 

 short, but very closely feathered, and capable of acting 

 like fins under the water. They are social in the 

 breeding times, and the females place their single egg 

 in a hole of the rock, and sometimes on the bare 

 ledge, without even a rudiment of a nest. They 

 moult twice in the year ; and when in their complete 

 winter plumage, there is a little difference in the 

 plumage ; and in this respect the young do not 

 differ from the old birds. There are three or four 

 species, though one of them has been separated 

 from the genus by Cuvier, and perhaps such ought 

 to be the case. 



FOOLISH GUILLEMOT (U. troile}. This species is 

 known by a number of provincial names ; and it gets 

 the English epithet above quoted from the fact that, 

 in places where the birds congregate, and are seldom 

 molested, they will sometimes allow themselves 

 to be taken with the hand. The length is about 

 eighteen inches, the stretch of the wings two feet four 

 inches, and the weight from a pound and a half to 

 two pounds. The body is of an oval form, of nearly 

 equal thickness at both ends, which is very different 

 from the shape of those birds which get most speedily 

 through the air. It is, however, in great part the 

 general shape of the grebes and divers, and also of 

 the diving ducks ; so that it seems the best one for 

 getting along when wholly immersed in the water. 

 One of the most remarkable differences in external 

 appearance between this bird and the grebes and 

 divers, is the shortness and thickness of the neck, 

 whereas these have it slender and graceful. The 

 head, however, is long, and the bill pointed, and thus 

 well calculated to divide the water before it. The bill 

 appears much shorter than it really is, because of the 

 feathered membranes of the nostrils, which advance 

 half way between the gape and the tip, and thus the 

 bird can make a wider mouth than one would at first 

 sight suppose. The plumage on all the fore part is 

 remarkably close and smooth, and of a blackish brown 

 colour ; the upper part is the same but paler, and 

 there is some white in the tips of the secondary 

 quills ; the under part is pure white, and has the fea- 

 thers as close and smooth as those on the head and 

 neck ; and this white comes round the elbow of the 

 wing, so that the colours are strikingly contrasted. 

 In winter the fore neck, the throat, the chin, and par- 

 tially the cheeks, become white, and the dark brown 

 on the rest of the upper part becomes dull grey. The 

 young birds have the winter plumage and not the 

 summer ; arid thus they are readily made different 

 species by those who do not attend to the changes. 



This species is found in all the northern seas of 

 both Europe and America ; and when they are frozen 

 out in the extreme north, they resort to the shores as 

 far south as the coast of France. They are not so 

 common on the southern shores of Engfand, though 

 they breed about the middle latitude of both sides of 

 the island.^ In Orkney and Shetland they are met 

 with all the year round. They approach the lonely 

 island of St. Kilda about the beginning of February ; 



and by the people there, who live much on sea-birds, 

 and at some seasons of the year have the streets of the 

 village paved with feathers, their appearance is 

 hailed with pleasure. It is said that on their arrival 

 they are caught by what seems a very shallow device : 

 the bird-catcher lies down on a ledge of the rock 

 during the night, with a piece of white cloth tied 

 round him ; the birds see the cloth more easily than 

 the rock, and alighting on it one after another, num- 

 bers of them are captured. In their favourite places 

 they nestle thickly together in the breeding season, 

 depositing their single egg on the bare rock : this egg 

 is of large size, and beautifully mottled with black, 

 blue, green, yellow, and white. The colours are, 

 however, subject to great variation ; and in birds 

 which build upon the exposed rocks, it is very com- 

 mon to see the coloured eggs which are placed high 

 up, much paler than those which are low down. The 

 females seldom quit the egg during the whole period 

 of incubation, but have their supply of sprats and 

 other small fishes brought to them by their partners. 

 In places where sprats or herrings, rr other small 

 fishes, which appear in large shoals, are periodical in 

 their visits, their coming is always attended by an 

 unwonted supply of guillemots. 



THE BLACK GUILLEMOT (U.grylle\ is less than 

 the former, but proportionally thicker in the body. It 

 is fourteen inches long, about twenty-two in the 

 stretch of the wings, and not a pound weight. Its 

 general colours are black above, and white on the 

 under part and cheeks, and with a white patch on the 

 middle of the wing. It continues, resident on many 

 parts of the British shores during the whole year ; 

 but the upper parts become so much paler in the 

 winter, that the bird might be easily mistaken for a 

 different species ; except during the breeding season, 

 it is seldom seen but on or in the water. It flies low, 

 and cannot take the wing from the ground without 

 considerable difficulty. The feathers upon it are 

 remarkably close, and [the Greenlanders use its skin as 

 an article of clothing, though its smell is very rank, as 

 is also the flavour of the flesh. The breeding is very 

 similar to that of the first mentioned species, but the 

 egg is smaller, and not nearly so rich in the colours. 

 The young are mottled as compared with the mature 

 birds ; and having been observed in this state in re- 

 mote places, it has been described as a different 

 species, under the name of the " marbled guillemot." 

 Like the former, this one is found in all the northern 

 seas, both of the eastern and the western continent, at 

 least so far as those seas have been explored ; and it 

 should seem that this one especially, forms attach- 

 ments for life ; for it is rare to meet with a single 

 bird or an odd number ; and where there is a number 

 it is usually a number of pairs, each pair keeping to- 

 gether, and apparently assisting each other in their 

 fishing. It is more active as well as more shy than 

 the former species, and therefore not so easily caught. 

 The Greenlanders, however, do contrive to capture 

 great numbers, which they eat with a zest, of which 

 we can form no notion. 



These appear to be the only well established spe- 

 cies of true guillemot ; but there is another which is, 

 generally speaking, a still more northerly inhabitant, 

 and which resembles them in many particulars. This is, 



THE ROTCHE (Mergulus mclanoleucos). Cuvier 

 gives the name of the " Greenland dove" to this bird 

 onlv, but that name is also applied to the black 

 guillemot, This is a smaller bird, being only about 



