LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 165 
Behavior—Mr. Ekblaw contributes the following notes on the 
habits of this species: 
re When resting idle and unalarmed on the water, it floats high so that much 
white of its under parts shows, but when alarmed or ready for a dive it sinks 
itself and rides low, only its black head and back showing. From this low posi- 
tion it dives most easily, like a flash, and with but very little commotion. It 
dives readily and fast, using its wings to help its feet in propelling itself; it 
dives so quickly at gunfire that it seems often to evade the shot fired at it from a 
distance, in this respect resembling the murre, which seems even quicker, how- 
ever. While swimming about it has the peculiar habit of nervously moving its 
head backward and forward. It is less shy than most other sea birds, both on 
the cliffs and in the leads or pools, or on the open sea, apparently trusting and 
unafraid, undisturbed by the proximity of man. This apparent confidence is 
quite different from the shyness of the guillemot farther south in Danish Green- 
land where it is practicaly unapproachable. 
A flock ‘of guillemots contentedly feeding in a pool or lead is a pleasant sight ; 
sometimes they dive as individuals, sometimes as a flock. When satisfied with 
food, or when tired of the water, they crawl out on the edge of the ice to bask 
or sleep, often in dense flocks. Once when in need of dinner, I shot 11 birds 
from one such flock, with a 12-gauge shotgun, No. 6 shot. 
When resting on the ice, the guillemot is likely to take flight if suddenly 
Startled, but if more gradually alarmed, it prefers to take to the water to dive. 
Hither from the edge of the ice or in the water, one bird more shy takes the lead 
in diving, then a few follow, and in a moment the whole flock, leaving trails of 
bubbles behind. They soon come to the surface, but if the source of their alarm 
has come nearer them, they dive again at once, remaining submerged for a. 
longer time. It can stay under the water for some little time, either when 
frightened or feeding—up to a minute and a quarter. Even when injured it 
dives deep and fast. I once wounded two by shot, that almost escaped, with 
one wing on either broken, by diving beneath a heavy, deep iceberg or floe and 
coming up on the side away from me. When repeatedly frightened it can not 
continue submerging itself and finally takes flight. 
Rising against the wind, the guillemot takes to its wings rather quickly and 
easily ; but with the wind, or when there is no wind at all, it has considerable 
difficulty. Under either of these conditions the bird must make a determined 
effort; it flutters along the surface partly flying, partly paddling with its little 
red feet, to develop enough initial velocity to raise it, often for long distances 
before it trusts to its wings alone. Once in the air, it sways from side to side 
as it rises, resembling a quail or partridge. Its flight is exceedingly rapid, yet 
it ean turn most abruptly in flight, and likewise most abruptly check its flight— 
apparently by assuming a sudden vertical position of the body—to drop hover- 
ingly into the water, in a manner quite different from its usual “ shoot-the- 
chute” slide into a pool, like a ship slipping uncontrolled into the sea from her 
ways. Often the bird stoops so sharply from considerable heights that it drops 
like a meteor; the noise a flock of such dropping birds makes is like that of a 
little hurricane. 
Winter—The Eskimo told me that about the Cary Islands, where the water 
is usually open all the year round, large numbers of the guillemot spend the 
winter; and when the sea is open throughout the winter even farther north in 
Smith Sound proper, between Cape Sabine and Lyttleton Island, the guillemot 
frequents it and thrives. On January 25, 1914, one of our Eskimo saw two 
Mandt’s guillemots in open water along the edge of the ice north of Sunrise 
Point, and south of Cape Olsen; the same day, another of our Eskimo saw 2 
