122 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



fused with its smaller-billed ally." Mr. Howard Saunders, on 

 the other hand, at the time of writing his " Manual," in 1889, 

 considered that the species had been included in the British 

 List on very slight evidence, and was inclined to admit only 

 two occurrences as worthy of any credit at all. In 1895. how- 

 ever, identified specimens were obtained from the coast of 

 Yorkshire and from Cambridgeshire. 



Range outside the British Islands. Briinnich's Guillemot is a 

 truly Arctic species, being plentiful in Spitsbergen, Jan Mayen, 

 Novaya Zemlya, and Franz-Josef Land. In Greenland there are 

 abundant colonies, and Colonel Feilden observed the species 

 as far north as Lat. 72. It is found also on the Pacific side of 

 North America. In winter it visits the coasts of Scandinavia, 

 and has been found on the eastern shores of Great Britain and 

 in the North of France, while in North America it extends as 

 far south as New Jersey. 



Habits. These, as might be expected, are similar to those 

 of the Common Guillemot. In some of its Arctic resorts, 

 incredible numbers of the species are said to congregate in the 

 North Pacific; they are usually called Uria arra, a form which 

 I consider to be inseparable from U. bruennichi. Dr. Stejneger 

 writes : " They pass the winter away from the shores of the 

 islands, probably on the open sea not far from them, as is 

 indicated by living individuals occasionally appearing during 

 the winter, and by the dead bodies regularly cast ashore after 

 each severe storm of the season. About the ist of April, or a 

 little earlier, enormous flocks approach the shore and take 

 possession of the rookeries. 



" When breeding, the long rows of ' Ares ' * on the narrow 

 shelves of rocks, where they have deposited their many- 

 coloured, large, pear-shaped eggs, face the rocky wall with 

 their white breasts, turning their black backs to the spectator. 

 When flying off the nest, they consequently are compelled to 

 first turn round, and, if taken by surprise, this manoeuvre will 

 often cause them to throw the egg from the shelf into the 

 water. It happened several times that, when I stealthily 

 approached in a boat under the breeding-colonies, several eggs 

 were thrown into the boat when the birds rushed off their 

 * So called from their note, ar-r-r. 



