Popular Btcttonarj) at Tntmatett Mature. 291 



swim together in shoals, feeding on worms, 

 aquatic insects, &c., and affording excellent 

 amusement to anglers from the avidity with 



which they seize the bait : they may also 

 be taken in considerable numbers with the 

 casting-net. The Gudgeon spawns in May, 

 generally among stones in shallow water. 

 The flesh is delicate, and easy of digestion. 



GUILLEMOT. ( Uria.) The Guillemots 

 are a genus of sea-birds, haying a striking 

 resemblance both to the A Icithe (Auks) and 

 the Colymhidie (Divers). Their bills, though 

 of a slender shape, are firm, strong, and 

 pointed; the upper mandible slightly bending 

 near the end, and the base covered with soft 

 short feathers : tongue long and slender ; 

 legs placed far backward ; and no hind toe. 

 Some of the species api>ear to be very stupid, 

 frequent experience not seeming to teach 

 them the danger of fire-arms ; while others 

 are sufficiently alert. They are numerously 

 spread over various parts of the northern 

 regions ; and, like many others, seek more 

 temperate climes on the approach of winter : 

 thus during that season they are regular 

 visitants of the British coasts. 



FOOLISH GUILLEMOT. (ORIA TROII.E.) 



The FOOLISH GUILLEMOT. ( Uria troile. ) 

 This bird is about seventeen inches in length, 

 and twenty-seven in breadth. The bill is 

 bluish-black, straight, nearly three inches 

 long, and sharp-pointed : from each eye to 

 the hinder part of the head there is a slight 

 division of the plumage ; and the feathers 

 on the upper part of the bill are short, and 

 soft as velvet. The head, neck, back, wings, 

 and tail, are of a deep mouse-colour ; the 

 tips of the lesser quill-feathers, the breast, 

 belly, and vent, are white ; the entire under 

 side of the body is pure white : legs dusky. 

 Like the Auk, which it greatly resembles, 

 the Guillemot lays but one egg, which is 

 large in proportion to her size : sometimes 

 it is of a pale blue or sea-green colour, and 

 at other times white, spotted, or neatly 



streaked with intersecting lines. These 

 birds are found in great numbers on the 

 cliffs which encircle several parts of our 

 coasts ; and, in the breeding season espe- 

 cially, they will often suffer themselves to 

 be killed or taken, rather than quit the cliff 

 they have chosen for their abode. 



The young has been descril>ed as a distinct 

 species, by some authors, as the Lesser Guil- 

 lemot. In this state it measures sixteen inches 

 in length, and from tip to tip of its extended 

 wings, twenty-six. The top of the head, 

 the whole upiwr part of the body, the wings, 

 and the tail, are of a very dark mouse-colour ; 

 the cheeks, throat, and lower side of the 

 body, white ; from the angle of the eye is a 

 dusky stroke, pointing to the back part of 

 the Read ; the tips of the secondary feathers 

 are white ; the tail is very short ; and the 

 legs and feet are dusky. 



The BLACK GUILLEMOT. (Uria gryUe.) 

 This species, called by seamen the Dovekey 

 or Dovekie, differs from the preceding prin- 

 cipally in the colour of its plumage, which, 

 except a large patch of white on the coverts 

 of each wing, is black, sleek and glossy ; its 

 feathers appearing all unwebbed, like silky 

 hair : legs and feet red ; claws black. The 



nest is made in the deep crevices of the 

 rocks which overhang the sea : the egg (for 

 it is generally said that one egg only is laid) 

 is grey, sometimes spotted with rust-colour. 

 On this much questioned and very question- 

 able fact, the observing and intelligent Ame- 

 rican ornithologist, Audubon, thus writes : 

 " Whether European writers have spoken 

 of this species at random, or after due ob- 

 servation, I cannot say. All I know is, 

 that every one of them whose writings I 

 have consulted, says that the Black Guille- 

 mot lays only one egg. As I have no reason 

 whatever to doubt their assertion, I might 

 be tempted to suppose that our species differs 

 from theirs, were I not perfectly aware that 

 birds in different places will construct dif- 

 ferent nests, and lay more or fewer eggs 

 Our species always deposits three, unless it 

 may have been disturbed ; and this fact I 

 have assured myself of by having caught 

 the birds in more than twenty instances 

 sitting on that number. Nay, on several 

 occasions, at Labrador, some of my party 

 and myself saw several Black Guillemots 

 sitting on eggs in the same fissure of a rock, 

 where every bird had three eggs under it ; a 

 fact which I communicated to my friend 

 Thomas Nuttall. What was most surprising 



c c 2 



