RINGED GUILLEMOT. 425 



possession of a white ring round the eye, and extending backwards 

 over the ear, is all that would seem to distinguish the one from 

 the other. Mr Cassin, in Professor Baird's work on the Birds of 

 North America, says, that the white line is not always present,* 

 although in the specific characters which he defines, this feature is 

 referred to as a ready means of distinguishing it from the common 

 species. In the same work Una troile is catalogued on the 

 assumption that it must have occurred in the northern regions of 

 that continent, though Mr Cassin admits that he had never seen 

 an American specimen. The Kinged Guillemot, on the other 

 hand, is described as " one of the most common birds of the higher 

 northern latitudes on both sides of the continent," and this leads 

 to the conclusion that North America is the head-quarters from 

 which it has gradually spread eastwards to the British islands. 

 On the western coasts of Scotland it occurs in all localities fre- 

 quented by the common guillemot. In my own collection I have 

 several specimens from Ailsa Craig, Loch Sunart, and various 

 places on the Firth of Clyde. It has been procured as far up the 

 Firth as Greenock a specimen having been shot there in April, 

 1861. Mr John Gilmour of Glasgow informs me that on 10th 

 April, 1868, he shot three guillemots when boating in Kilbrannan 

 Sound, two of which were ringed birds. These, although in 

 winter plumage, show the white line round the eye very distinctly. 

 It is only of late years that the variety has been recognised by the 

 fowlers at Ailsa and elsewhere. "Weeping guillemot," "silver-eyed 

 scout," and "bridled marrot," are instances of local distinction 

 among the fishermen, but these names have evidently been acquired 

 through intercourse with collectors. 



On Ailsa Craig specimens occur every year, and during the time 

 the tacksman and his assistants were in the habit of snaring the 

 sea fowl previous to the passing of the Sea Birds Preservation 

 Bill, they took on an average three specimens in a week. I have 

 seen two and even three taken in one day, and on the occasion of 

 my last visit to the rock in company with Mr Anderson, I counted 

 over one thousand five hundred dead guillemots, and found only 

 two bridled birds in that number. One of the men, however, 



* The exact words are : " The white line behind the eye frequently wanting, 

 and different in length in specimens" a description which shows that even 

 the character on which the name is founded wavers and disappears. If Mr 

 Cassin really examined specimens without this white line, it seems strange that 

 he should say that he never saw an American specimen of Uria troile. 



