i4o British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



Faeroes, Bear Island (reaching the latitude of 74 ), and the north-west coasts of 

 Europe, as far south as North France and as far east as the Varanger Fjord. 

 (" History of British Birds "). There is a colony of Guillemots, about two thousand 

 birds (Gatke), on Heligoland, and the known southern Atlantic range in the 

 breeding season of this species has been extended by the observations of Mr. Tait, 

 who found it breeding on the Berlengas Islands, off the coast of Portugal. Mr. 

 Tait also saw Guillemots on the 4th June, 1882, in the neighbourhood of the 

 Cies Islands, and thinks it is pretty certain that they breed on the rocky coast of 

 Galicia ("Ibis," 1887, p. 399). In the Baltic it breeds on Bornholm ("Yarrell"). 



In winter it is occasionally seen in small numbers in the Straits of Gibraltar, 

 after severe weather from the westward (Colonel Irby), but it is rare in the Mediter- 

 ranean ; on this side of the Atlantic it goes rather further south, and on the 

 American coast as far as the Middle States. On the Pacific coast of North 

 America our bird is replaced by U. troile californica. 



The Guillemot resorts to rocky cliffs and headlands for breeding purposes ; 

 it is eminently gregarious in the breeding season (and, indeed, though naturally 

 to a less degree, at all seasons), and some of its summer haunts are remarkable 

 for the vast number of birds which congregate there for a few weeks in the year. 



No nest is made, and the single large egg is laid on the bare rock, on a 

 ledge in a cliff, or on the flat summit of a " stack." In some places, when the 

 birds are numerous, the eggs are placed so close to one another that it is a matter 

 for wonder how each bird manages to pick out and return to her own treasure. 



The egg is pear-shaped and very large for the size of the bird. Seebohm, 

 who collected the greater part of the large series in the British Museum, gives 

 the length as from 3^5 to 3 inches, and the breadth as from 2"o to i - 85 inches, 

 and mentions an abnormally large egg measuring 3' 7 by 2'2 inches. In 

 colour they vary to a remarkable degree. The ground colour may be 

 white, cream, buff, pale brown, reddish-brown, or green of various tints, from 

 bluish to yellowish and olive, and of various shades. Eggs are sometimes almost 

 or entirely unmarked, but usually they are marked more or less extensively, and 

 in some cases the markings cover the greater part of the surface of the egg. The 

 markings are in the form of spots, blotches, confluent blotches, sometimes forming 

 a zone (nearly always near the largest diameter of the egg), streaks, scrolls, 

 " scrawls," or a net-work of narrow lines. It is not the rule for an egg to be 

 marked with spots and narrow lines or scrolls. The markings are usually most 

 numerous near the largest diameter of the egg ; occasionally they are most numerous 

 at the other end, and they are often evenly or nearly evenly distributed over the 

 whole surface. The markings are nearly black, blackish-brown, brown of various 



