256 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



is common in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, although 

 its stronghold may be still more to the North. The bird 

 deposits its eggs, two in number, in clefts or crevices of the 

 rocks, at a distance of two or three feet, or even more, from 

 their entrance, or among fragments of rock or large stones 

 on the beach. There is nothing in the form or appearance 

 of the eggs which at all assimilates to those of the three 

 last species. The eggs of the present bird approach consi- 

 derably to an oval form, and are certainly not more than 

 two-thirds the size of the Common Guillemots ; they are 

 usually white or bluish- white, blotched with grey and brown 

 of different tints and depths. (PL XVI. fig. 97.) 



THE LITTLE AUK. Mergulus alle. In the far North 

 this bird is abundant, but only at times seen upon our own 

 shores. The bird forms no nest, but deposits its single egg 

 upon the ground amongst the fragments which have fallen 

 from the neighbouring cliffs. The egg is of a bluish-white 

 slightly spotted with brownish colour. 



THE GREAT AUK. Alca impennis. This is a species 

 nearly if not quite extinct, and if found, must be sought for, 

 we apprehend, in regions of the extreme North. Mr. Dunn, 

 in a work already referred to, says that, " during his stay 

 in Orkney, and while on a visit at Pappa Westra, he was 



