"The Common Guillemot rides the waves as buoyantly as a cork." 



THE COMMON GUILLEMOT 



T 



HE Common Guillemot is a 

 bird of the boundless ocean. 

 It rides the waves as buoy- 

 antly as a cork, dives with 

 great ease and strength, 

 and makes but little use 

 of the solid earth, except- 

 ing in the breeding season, 

 or when driven ashore by a succession 

 of power-exhausting gales. 



It breeds on flat-topped ocean rock 

 stacks and ledges of maritime cliffs, and 

 is common in all suitable localities round 

 the British coast. In cliffs with long 

 ledges running in the lines of stratifica- 

 tion the birds sit shoulder to shoulder, 

 and their pure white breasts and dark 

 heads and necks frequently make them 

 stand out in bold and striking contrast 

 to the rock behind them. 



This bird does not make the slightest 

 pretence whatsoever at nest-building. 

 Her single egg is of large size, and admir- 

 ably shaped for the perilous position it 

 generally occupies. Instead of being oval 

 in shape, like those of the owl, it is 

 formed after the manner of an elongated 

 pear, so that when stirred by a strong 

 gust of wind, or by the bird leaving it 

 in undue haste, it does not roll away, 

 but simply revolves upon its own axis, 

 describes a small circle, and is in a great 

 many cases thus saved from destruction. 

 This fact probably gave rise to the one- 

 time belief that the Guillemot glued her 

 egg to the rock whereon it was laid. 

 Of course, it does not always avail, for 

 I have seen eggs fall off very narrow 

 ledges in showers when the sitting birds 

 have suddenly been frightened by the 



