BRITISH BIRDS. 40; 



part of the neck, back, rump, and tail coverts are 

 of a soft glossy black, and look something like 

 velvet: the cheeks, chin, and throat are of a dull 

 sooty dark brown ; ridge and pinions of the wings, 

 light brown: coverts and quills dusky : legs black. 



These birds associate \vith the Guillemots, and 

 also breed in the same places. About the be- 

 ginning of May, they take possession of the 

 highest impending rocks, for the purpose of in- 

 cubation, and upon the ledges of these rocks they 

 congregate in great numbers, sitting closely to- 

 gether, tier above tier, and row above row: there 

 they deposit their single large egg on the bare 

 rock; and notwithstanding the numbers of them, 

 thus mixed together, yet no confusion takes place, 

 for each bird knows her own egg, and hatches it 

 in that situation. 



The egg of this Auk is three inches long, of a 

 yellowish white colour,' irregularly marked with 

 dark spots. They are gathered, with other kinds, 

 in great numbers, by the neighbouring inhabitants, 

 from the rocky promontories in various parts of the 

 British Isles, but particularly in the north, where 

 the men who are accustomed to gather these eggs, 

 are let down over the precipices by ropes, which 

 are tied to, or held by, their companions above. 



The foregoing figure and description were taken 

 from a specimen in perfect plumage, shot at Jarrow 

 Slake, near the mouth of the Tyne, in May, by 

 the late Mr. Thomas Walton, of Farnacres, to 

 whose memory, for many favours of the same kind, 

 the author feels a large debt of gratitude. 



