BLACK GUILLEMOT. 



year have the throat, the breast, and all the under 

 parts of the plumage pure white : the top of the head, 

 the nape, the lower part of the neck, and sides of the 

 breast dusky, spotted with grey and white : the back 

 and rump are dull black; several feathers on the 

 latter having their tips ashy-white : the wings are 

 black, except the greater and middle coverts, which 

 are white, spotted with ashy and dusky : the irides 

 are dusky-brown : the inside of the beak and the 

 legs are livid-red. 



This species is common on the shores of the 

 northern ocean, especially on those of Greenland, 

 Iceland, Spitzbergen, and Norway : they are also 

 abundant in the Hebrides and the Ferroe islands, 

 and on the Fern islands, near the coast of Northum- 

 berland, but on more southern coasts they are less 

 frequent : the nest is formed in the deep crevices of 

 the rocks which overhang the sea ; and the female 

 lays a single egg, of a bright ash, or white ground, 

 marked with small black and ash-coloured spots, which 

 approach very near together at each end. 



In the collection of indigenous birds preserved in 

 the British Museum, this species is separated, by my 

 friend Dr. Leach, from the Guillemots by the ap- 

 pellation of Grylle scapularis; but, although I am a 

 strenuous advocate for generic division, I do not deem 

 its characters of sufficient importance to warrant such 

 separation ; in which proceeding I suspect he was 

 influenced by Cuvier in his Regne Animal, who has 

 apparently confounded this bird with the Mergulus 

 melanoleucos, and given the characters cf it to his 

 subgenus Cephus. 



