OP IS^OEIHUMBEELAICD AXB DUEHAM. 163 



not difficult to obtain specimens in the summer dress, and which, 

 remains so long that they are frequently found in theii' nuptial 

 plumage before they leave our sea coast. 



"We found this species breeding in Nor-way, in 1833. The 

 nest, if it can be so called, is a mere depression in the soil, where 

 the eggs, usually two, are placed, near the margin of a pond or 

 lake. In one instance, where the young were hatched, a groove 

 was worn in the soil from the nest depression, where the eggs 

 had lain, to the water ; evidently made by the old bird pushing- 

 its body along to and fro between the nest and the water. The 

 Divers do not appear to have the power of walking, or even of 

 standing with the body erect. I have frequently had them alive, 

 but could never succeed in inducing them to balance themselves 

 on their feet. They always rested on the breast, with the feet 

 extended backwards ; and owing to this peculiar position of the 

 feet, and the consequent inability of the bird to walk, the eggs 

 are always deposited close to the sides of the pools which they 

 frequent. 



Family. ALCID^, Bonaparte. 



161. URIA, Brisson. 



70. GuixiEMOT. U. TKoiLE, (Limmus.) 



Uria troile, Bewick, Hist. Brit. Bii'ds, Ed. 1847, II., 390, 392. 

 ,, Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 2. III., 450. 



A resident. Common on the shores of both counties. It 

 breeds on the ''Pinnacles," at the Fame Islands, 



The Kinged Guillemot ( Uria ringvia or lacrpnans) is a variety 

 of this species, and has frequently occurred in oiu- district. I 

 have thi'ce or four specimens of this variety, all captured on our 

 sea coast. 



It is stated in Harting's "Handbook," p. 167, that one or 

 more specimens of Briinnich's Guillemot {JI. arra) have been 

 taken at the Fame Islands, but the reference given, '' Zoologist," 

 1852, p. 3479, does not seem to bear out this assertion, and I am 

 not aware of a single instance of its occurrence on the coast of 

 the two counties. 



