182 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
BLACK GUILLEMOT. 
Uria GRYLLE, Linn. 
Pl. XXXL, fig. 2. 
Geogr. distr.—Northern portions of the Palwarctic and Nearctic 
regions, migrating southwards in winter, but not very far. In Great 
Britain it is rare on the English coast during the nesting season, a few 
laying on the Welsh coast near Tenby, and in the northern counties; 
but in Scotland and Ireland it is tolerably common, breeding on the 
western coast of Scotland, in the Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides, and 
in the Bay of Dublin, and also sparingly in the Isle of Man. 
Food.—Young fish, Mollusca, and Crustacea. 
Nest.—None. 
Position of breeding-place.—In hollows or crevices of the rocks at 
considerable altitudes, or amongst rocks and stones on beaches, or 
beneath large stones or boulders upon grassy islands. 
Number of eggs.—2-8; usually 2. 
Time of nidification.—V-VI. 
The following account of the nesting of this species I 
take from Mr. Seebohm’s work, vol. iii., p. 385 :— 
“ The Black Guillemot probably pairs for life, as year by 
year the same crannies and crevices of the rocks are 
tenanted, presumably by the same birds. It is a rather 
late breeder, its eggs being seldom deposited in Scotland 
before the end of May or the first week in June, and fresh 
eggs may be obtained all through the latter month. It 
makes no nest, but deposits its eggs either in a crevice of 
the cliff (it may be hundreds of feet above a boiling sea) or 
amongst the débris under the fallen rock-fragments at the 
foot of the cliffs. Sometimes they are laid under the large 
blocks of rock on the beach, and less frequently at con- 
siderable distances inland. Saxby states that he has 
found the eggs on grassy, rock-strewn slopes fifty or sixty 
yards from the sea; and Evans and Sturge found this 
bird breeding in Spitzbergen a mile or two inland. Some- 
times the eggs can easily be obtained from the niche or 
crevice, but at others they are almost inaccessible. They 
are almost invariably two in number; Macgillivray says 
that they are frequently three, and Audubon states that 
the latter number is the usual clutch.” 
