COMMON GUILLEMOT 483 



of the Auk-Family, afford a spectacle most interesting and 

 at the same time familiar to many. Like their congeners, 

 these birds desert the cliffs in early autumn, at which 

 season young and old betake themselves to the open sea. 



Guillemots, especially when immature, seem unable to 

 cope with raging winds and high seas, and large numbers 

 are frequently destroyed and washed ashore after a hurri- 

 cane. Such birds may be frequently found along the beach, 

 but in addition one comes across not a few, victimised by 

 the gun which can be proved by examination, in many 

 cases being left by the ' sportsman ' to die a lingering death 

 on the waves. 1 



Though differing in size, in the shape of the head and 

 beak, in the colour of the back and wings, and in other 

 external characters, from the Kazorbill, the two species are 

 much alike in their general habits of life, and in their 

 movements. 



Flight. It is quite a common sight to see 'wisps' of 

 Guillemots perhaps a dozen or so together flying with 

 rapidly-beating pinions along the surface of the open sea ; 

 I have seen them settle and bunch together on the water, 

 and then disappear under the waves almost simultaneously. 

 At other times on alighting they scatter far and wide, 

 appearing like dark dots riding on the breakers. The to 

 and fro movement between cliff and sea is rapidly executed, 

 yet this species appears to move less buoyantly in the air 

 than the Razorbill, the wings of the former being smaller 

 proportionately, and less strongly built than those of the 

 latter. Under water the Guillemot can propel itself with 

 great speed by means of its wings. 



1 It seems a pity that the Common Guillemot has become reduced 

 in numbers on the English coast owing to the wholesale way in which it 

 was persecuted annually, prior to the passing of the Sea-Birds Preserva- 

 tion Act (32 & 33 Viet. cap. 17). The slaughter which went on day after 

 day during the breeding-season, "on the cliffs of the Isle of Wight, 

 near Flamborough Head, and at such other stations frequented by this 

 species and its allies the Razor-bill and Puffin, and the Kitti wake- Gull, 

 as could be easily reached by excursionists from London and the large 

 manufacturing towns, was in the highest degree brutal. No use what- 

 ever could be made of the bodies of the victims, which indeed those 

 who indulged in their massacre were rarely at the trouble to pick 

 out of the water; the birds shot were all engaged in breeding; and 

 most of them had young, which of course starved through the destruc- 

 tion of their parents, intercepted in the performance of the most sacred 

 duty of nature, and butchered to gratify the murderous lust of those who 

 sheltered themselves under the name of ' sportsmen '" (Newton). 



