Buackx GUILLEMOT. NATATORES. URIA. 427 
Guillemot. And this appears still more evident from the 
note at the bottom of the same page, in which (after advert- 
ing to the figures of the Lesser and Spotted Guillemots in 
the second volume of Pennant’s British Zoology, Plate 83.) 
he observes, “ Ces sont des Guillemots proprement dits; au 
contraire PAlca Alle, Penn. Br. Zool. 2. pl. 82. f. 1, et Al- 
bin 1. pl. 85, appartient aux Cephus.” Dr Firminc, how- 
ever, has appropriated this generic term to the Black Guille- 
mot, making the distinction between it and Uria to consist 
in the want of a terminal notch in the upper mandible; but 
as this character does not appear to be constant, having seen 
some specimens of the present bird with the notch, though 
not so fully developed as in the Foolish Guillemot, I have 
retained it in the situation where it was originally placed by 
Dr Latrnam. In the northern parts of Scotland and dts 
Tsles this is a numerous species, but becomes of rarer occur- 
rence as we approach the English coast, where indeed it is 
but occasionally met with; and although Monracu has men- 
tioned it as resorting to the Farn Islands, and Mr StrrHens 
has repeated the same, I can safely assert that this has not 
been the case for the last twenty-five or thirty years, having 
been in the habit of visiting this group of islands almost an- 
nually during that period ; and, had it been a visitant, I feel 
confident it vould not have escaped my observation, or that 
of the keepers of the light-house who reside there. It cer- 
tainly breeds, though in a very small proportion, upon the 
Isle of May, at the mouth of the Frith of Forth, but is not 
found in large congregated numbers till we reach the vicinity 
of the Orkney and Shetland Isles. In these parts it is resi- 
dent throughout the year, never migrating to the same ex- 
tent as the preceding species and the Razor-bill Auk. — Its 
habits are very similar to those of its congeners, and it is 
rarely seen upon land, except for the purposes of incubation. 
It breeds in the crevices or on the ledges of rocks, from Incuba- 
° : ; : tion, &c,. 
whence it can readily drop into the water or get upon wing, 
and lays a single egg, of a greyish white, speckled with 
2 
