LXXIL COMMON GUILLEMOT. 



(Uria troile.) 



THE Guillemot, though it frequents Loch Ailort in search of fish, 

 especially herring fry, does not breed here. It prefers more 

 precipitous rocks than are to be found here, such as the Bass or 

 Barra Head, where the nearly perpendicular precipices are from 

 400 to 600 feet high, and where many kinds of sea-birds rear 

 their young on the narrow ledges of rock at a considerable height 

 above the sea, choosing the elevation according to their several 

 tastes oddly enough, the small winged Guillemot choosing the 

 highest ledge, where, exposed to the Atlantic storms, it lays its 

 one or at most two eggs, which are of a large size in proportion 

 to the bird. The Guillemot swallows the fish it catches, and 

 when they are half digested, disgorges them for the young to 

 feed on. The Guillemot I drew in summer plumage had the feet 

 and legs black. Some we saw in January, in Glasgow Market, 

 had the legs and toes orange-yellow, membranes olive, claws 

 yellow. 



161 



