488 ALCID.E 



BRUNNICH'S GUILLEMOT. Una bruennichi (E. Sabine). 



Coloured Figures. Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 

 622 ; Lilford, ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vi, pis. 39, 40. 



This Guillemot, abundant in the breeding-season over a 

 vast area of the mainland and islands in the Arctic Ocean, 

 also along the American sea-board of the North Atlantic l 

 and in Behring Sea, is a very rare visitor to British waters ; 

 it resembles generally the Common species, from which, 

 however, it may be distinguished by its superior size, 

 stouter and deeper beak, and more curved and darker 

 plumage on the upper parts. 



Four authenticated specimens have been obtained in 

 England as follows : One, December 7th, 1894, at Scar- 

 borough (Harting, ' Zoologist,' 1895, p. 70, and Proc. Linn. 

 Soc., January 17th, 1895) ; two, January 30th, 1895, at 

 Filey (Grabhain, ' Zoologist/ 1895) ; and one, January 

 12th, 1895, in Cambridgeshire (Tuck, ' Zoologist,' 1895, 

 p. 70). It is interesting to note that three of the four 

 birds were procured from the same neighbourhood along 

 the Yorkshire coast, and that all were taken much about 

 the same time. Thus it seems evident that a visitation 

 consisting of several Briinmch's Guillemots frequented the 

 seas of the east side of England in that particular season. 



Three other specimens, probably British, have been 

 recorded, viz. : One from Caithness, once in the Sinclair 

 collection at Wick ; another sent from the Orkneys, found 

 by Macgillivray among skins belonging to the late Mr. 

 Wilson, janitor to the University of Edinburgh ; a third 

 from the mouth of the River Orwell, in Suffolk (Saunders). 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head and back 

 of neck, glossy greenish-black ; back, scapulars, wings, and 

 tail, darker black ; sides of head, throat, and fore-neck, very 

 dark sooty-brown ; secondaries, edged with white, forming 



1 On September 3rd, 1906, I observed several birds which I believe 

 were of this species, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence not far from the Straits 

 of Bellisle. Among them were Puffins, Razorbills, and Common Guille- 

 mots. The birds swam quite close to the ship, and I kept them in view 

 for several minutes with a powerful Zeiss prism-binocular. 



