258 BIRDS. 



possible. The young one we could never see fed, but the old 

 bird on arriving on the ledge with a fish, would hold it in its 

 bill despite the efforts on the part of its neighbours apparently 

 to rob it of the same. After waiting as long as ten minutes 

 or a quarter of an hour, the bird would turn round, shove or 

 fight its way to the back where its young one was, and there 

 feed and nestle it. 



In a note by the late Robert Heddle it is stated that the 

 Einged variety is nearly as common about Hoy as the other, 

 and this is corroborated by Mr. C. H. Warne ; in other places 

 our own observations did not bear this out. 



Uria grylle (.). Black Guillemot. 



Common and resident, breeding in most of the islands. In Hoy 

 we have observed the Black Guillemot nesting as high as fifty 

 or sixty feet from the water, whereas, on Eynhallow, they place 

 their eggs underneath a moderately-sized stone on the beach. 

 On this latter island they seem more abundant than elsewhere, 

 and numbers may be seen in the water close to the cairns in 

 which their mates are sitting. 



Regarding the plumage of the Black Guillemot, we ourselves 

 have only noticed the bronze wing-spot on one occasion, viz., 

 either in June or July 1883. 



Although all these birds that came under our notice during 

 - the late autumn and winter had the speckled plumage, it is, we 

 know, the opinion of several people that once the adult plumage 

 is attained it is never lost. Dr. Rae, in his Expedition to the 

 Arctic Seas, footnote, p. 185, mentions this. More recently 

 Harvie-Brown received a letter from the lighthouse-keeper in 

 Noss, Shetland, stating that this was his opinion too. 



We also quote Low as showing that, even so far back as his 

 time, attention was being paid to this subject : 



"These birds are found in the winter-time almost wholly 

 grey, and others spotted about the head, neck, and back with 

 that colour ; but whether they change colour in winter and put 

 on this as a dress of the season, or if it is the last year's brood 



