130 THE SPECIES. 



Uria. Plate xxxii. ALCIDM. 



377- g^ii'-^ 13 in- Black Guillemop. Breast black or speckled 



remiges 30. 



375. troile, \'j\ in. Guillemot. Breast white ; bill long and pointed 



remiges 26. 



376. bruennichi, 18 in. Brunntch's GUILLEMOT. Breast white ; bill short 



and thick ; remiges 26. 



The Black: Guillemot — Dimensions, Kn ; Eggs, Pe — has a whitish head and white under- 

 parts in the winter. His flight is low, rapid, and straight, and he dives almost as fast as he 

 flies. The call is a scream. The nest is a mere hole, containing two or three eggs. 



The Guillemot — Dimensions, Gb ; Eggs, Se — has the throat and cheeks white in the 

 winter. He flies dartingly like a Kingfisher, and in diving he uses only his wings, while in 

 swimming he uses only his legs. The call is a murmuring "gurr"; theory of the young 

 being the " willock," from which the French made "guillemot." The female is smaller than 

 the male. On high cliffs, where many birds breed, the Guillemots occupy the zone below the 

 Razorbills and above the Kittiwakes. There is no nest, the one egg being laid on the bare 

 ledge of rock. Guillemot's eggs vary more in colour than those of any other British bird. 



Brunnich's Guillemot — Dimensions, Of ; Eggs, Se— is an Arctic straggler recorded here 

 once or twice. 



Vanellus. Plate xxvi. CHARADRIID^. 



301. cristatus, 13 in. Lapwing. Crown and crest greenish black ; sides 

 of throat and lower breast white : upper parts 

 blackish green ; outer primaries tipped with white ; 

 secondaries almost wholly black ; tail coverts pale 

 chestnut ; tail white tipped with black, except the 

 two outer feathers ; legs brown ; hind toe small ; 

 two toes cleft to base, two united nearly to first 

 joint. 



The Lapwing — Dimensions, Lb; Eggs, Mb — otherwise the Peewit, is the bird that lays 

 ffie Plover's eggs for the London market. It has long been held in esteem. There is an old 

 Scottish Act of Parliament, of the time of Edward the First, ordering all its eggs to be 

 broken when found " in order that Peesweeps may not go south and become a delicious 

 repast to our unnatural enemies, the English t ' " Peewit," "Peesweep," " Weet a weet," 

 "pee ween," "dix-huit," all do duty as syllabisations of its plaintive cry. The flight is a 

 regular lap, lap, lap, of the wings, which are kept open for a little after the birds alight. 

 The nest is a hollow, lined with grass and moss, and where there is one there are generally 

 more. The eggs are four or five in number. Another Vanelbts^ the Sociable Plover, 

 gregarius, seems to have been shot in Lancashire, in i860, but our list is already so long that 

 the mere mention of the fact is enough. 



Xema. Plate xxxi. LARIDM, 



354. sabinii, 13J in. Sabine's Gull. Head dark grey with narrow 



black collar ; beak red at tip ; back and wings grey ; 

 primaries black ; white below ; tail forked. 



Sabine's Gull — Dimensions, Lk j Eggs, Lr — was first found by Sir Edward Sabine in 

 Greenland, and has been met with as far south as Callao. It has been recorded several times 

 since it was first shot at Belfast, in 1822, but it can only be looked upon as a very occasional 

 guest. 



