210 ALCID.E. 



time to the inconsiderate and wanton annoyance they experience 

 here. At this time, or just before taking their station at their 

 breeding-places, they appear far up Belfast Bay, sometimes about 

 the quays of the town, and have been killed with oars and 

 stones; so late as April 26 (1838) they have been observed here. 

 At the end of autumn again for a short time, as well as late in 

 spring, they are seen far up the bay. On September 19, 1837, I 

 obtained one (its irides were noted to be greyish-brown) in the 

 plumage of Bewick's lesser guillemot, of which he gives an in- 

 teresting account, showing it to have been an excellent and patient 

 sitter for its picture. In the first week of October 1838, several 

 were shot here ; in 1840 they first made their appearance on 

 the 4th of that month. A fine bird which I had weighed proved 

 to be 2 lbs. 1 oz. In Strangford Lough I have remarked them 

 at the beginning of October. 



When about the entrance of Belfast Bay in winter, I have 

 always observed some of these birds, and a few individuals kiUed 

 there during that season have come under my notice. They have 

 occasionally been brought from Dublin Bay to the city in winter; 

 and, in the ' Pauna of Cork,' are noticed as "resident.'' 



Mr. Selby is of opinion that " the colonies which had made the 

 English coast their summer quarters, retire to more southern 

 latitudes to pass the winter months. Their place in this country 

 is but sparingly supplied by a few stragglers from the great bodies 

 that, beiug bred in still higher latitudes, make the friths of Scot- 

 land and its isles, the limit of their equatorial migration"^ (vol. ii. 

 p. 422). This interesting view of the question is as applicable to 

 Ireland as to Scotland, but, not being susceptible of proof, it must 

 unfortunately remain a mere matter of speculation. The great 

 body at least of old birds that breed upon the cliffs of Ireland 



* When proceeding from East Tarbert to Greenock, on February 1, 1849, and 

 about the entrance to Loch Fine, I saw a number of these birds, or razorbills, both 

 singly and in pairs, and in one instance four in company. Guillemots they most probably 

 were, but they did not come near enough on flight, or admit of such an approach 

 when swimming, to enable me to determine their species. The headland of Oe, in 

 Islay, and the Craig of Ailsa, may be mentioned as insular breeding-places of the 

 guillemots known to me oiF the south-west of Scotland. 



