BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



of North America likewise. Atidubon writes that count- 

 less numbers breed on the islands on the Labrador coast, 

 and that his boat returned from one excursion with two 

 thousand eggs, of which he says, "they afford excellent 

 food, being highly nutritious and palatable, whether boiled, 

 roasted, poached, or in omelets." (PI. XVI. fig. 99.) 



BRUNNICH'S GUILLEMOT. Uria Brmmichii. This ap- 

 pears to be a far less abundant species than the last, and its 

 claim to be regarded as British rests upon a few specimens 

 which have been obtained at different times upon our shores. 

 It is reported to breed in Greenland in great numbers, and 

 its eggs are brought from Iceland ; some of them are of a very 

 beautiful yellowish-green colour, exceedingly different from 

 the blue-green frequent among the eggs both of this and the 

 commoner species ; some also, as described by Mr. Hewit- 

 son, are shorter in proportion to their breadth, and more 

 rounded towards the smaller end, than is usual with the 

 eggs of the common species ; but we have seen others which, 

 whether by their outward form or colour, could not be dis- 

 tinguished from the commoner eggs, and we were informed 

 by Mr. Gardner that almost the only means by which the 

 species to which they belonged could be determined, was by 

 holding the eggs up to the light, so that the colour of the 



