426 



NATATORES. URIA. BLACK GUILLEMOT. 



General 

 descrip- 

 tion. 



Summer 

 Plumage. 



Winter 

 Plumage, 



black and ash-grey. Its food consists of fish, crustacese, &c. 

 but authors have not mentioned any particular kind that it 

 prefers. The Black Guillemot is widely distributed in the 

 Arctic Circle, and is met with in very high latitudes, inha- 

 biting all the icy regions of Europe and North America. 

 In the latter Continent, Dr RICHARDSON says, " it abounds 

 in the Arctic seas and straits from Melville Island down to 

 Hudson's Bay, and remains, though in diminished numbers, 

 during winter in the pools of open water, which occur even 

 in high latitudes among the floes of ice." I may here re- 

 mark, that Dr RENNIE has inadvertently quoted the Uria 

 minor of STEPHENS for this species, but which synonyme 

 the General Zoology refers to the young and winter plumage 

 of the Foolish Guillemot. In that work the Black Guillemot 

 is described by the name of Uria scapularis. 



PLATE 80. Fig. 1. represents this bird of the natural size, 



and in the summer plumage. 



Head, neck, dorsal and under plumage, of a sooty or 

 brownish- black ; the mantle and lower part of the back 

 having a greenish gloss. Lesser wing-coverts next to 

 the ridge of the wings, and the quill-feathers, velvet- 

 black. Middle and greater coverts pure white. Bill 

 black ; one inch and a quarter long from the forehead 

 to the tip. Inside of the gape vermilion-red. Legs and 

 toes scarlet-red. 



Fig. 2. is a bird of the former season, just commencing 

 the vernal moult, from a specimen killed on the Nor- 

 thumbrian coast, towards the close of winter. 



Crown of the head and nape of the neck black, the fea- 

 thers being bordered with white. Neck, chin, and un- 

 der plumage, white ; intermixed with black, thus indi- 

 cating the change that has commenced. Back and sca- 

 pulars black, with the tips of the feathers white. Lower 

 part of the rump white. Speculum, or white space up- 



