* The Zoologist — August, 1874. 4119 



driving it up an inclined plane of air. If the above explains the peculiar 

 action of the feet described, it may account for the singularly short allowance 

 of tail that many web-footed birds are favoured with. — H. Marriage Wallis; 

 London, July 11, 1874. 



[The Guillemots at the Zoological Gardens. — A similar deficiency, or 

 indeed almost total absence, of tail has often struck me in the guillemots, 

 and it has beeu with intense pleasure I have watched the actions of these 

 birds, under the care of the very intelligent keeper, Mr. Church, at the 

 Zoological Gardens. We have had at different times several of these birds 

 in the Gardens, but have never succeeded in keeping them any length of 

 time : we have now two, one a bird of 1872, the other a bird of 1873. 

 Both of them are exceedingly tame, and will walk deliberately into a cage 

 constructed in the similitude of a rabbit-hutch in order to be conveyed from 

 their residence in the eastern aviary to the basin in the pelican enclosure, 

 ■where they are fed on gudgeon and other small fishes, simultaneously con- 

 veyed thither by the keeper in a tin can, this fish-can in one hand, the 

 guillemot-hutch in the other. The guillemots are perfectly unmutilated ; 

 the stumpy tail may perhaps be a little worn, and this is scarcely per- 

 ceptible ; the wings are entire, and there is no obvious reason why the 

 birds do not take leave of their keeper and wing their way to the sea-side in 

 company with other fashionables. Their gait in walking is awkward in the 

 extreme ; they waddle along, resting on the whole length of the tarsus, and 

 emit almost incessant guttural sounds, whether indicative of affection for 

 their keeper or eagerness for food I am not prepared to say. As soon as 

 the fishes are transferred from the can to the basin the guillemots plunge in 

 after them, and now a scene of vigour and activity takes place which does 

 one good to watch. You see at a glance that although the guillemot is 

 known to avail himself of land or air when necessity compels, yet water is 

 his element, his home. The first observation you will infallibly make is 

 that the wings, which we are apt to suppose exclusively organs of flight, 

 are now converted into organs of swimming, and are used, to the almost 

 entire exclusion of the legs, for the purpose ; the wings, under water, are 

 plied with the strength and regularity of the fins of a turtle, but with 

 infinitely more rapidity and energy ; the legs seem to follow the body because 

 they must, not because they wish to; they flap feebly and lazily, but 

 allow the wings to do all the work. The bird must keep a bright look out 

 under water, for he pursues the fish with undeviating accuracy, whatever its 

 speed and however abrupt and angular its turns to avoid him : escape is 

 impossible : the fish is generally seized crosswise of the bill, and brought 

 to the surface of the water to swallow head first. The office of the wings 

 in swimming is not more remarkable than their apparent inaptitude for 

 flight : if taken out of the water and dropped from a height of three or four 

 feet on to its surface, the bird invariably plunges below, and begins to pursue 



