453 



shot with ease ; for when one is shot and falls on the water the rest hover screaming over it, 

 and may be shot one after the other. 



It breeds on lofty cliffs, usually, however, selecting the lower parts below the Auks and 

 Guillemots. The nests are rather bulky, constructed of sea-weeds and grasses, and are placed on 

 the narrow shelves and projections of the cliffs. The eggs, two or three, but rarely four, in 

 number, are pale ochreous grey, ochreous white with an olivaceous tinge, or pale greenish 

 olivaceous in colour clouded and spotted with pale purplish grey and dark brown, and vary in 

 size from 2^ by lf^ to 2^ by lf^ inch. 



The specimens figured are — on the first Plate an old bird in summer dress with an adult in 

 winter plumage in the background, and on the second Plate a young bird in the early autumn 

 and a young bird in down. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a, ad. English coast, b, <$ ad. Greenland (Erichsen). c,juv. Lichtenfels, Greenland, August 20th, 1873 

 (Starch) . d, ad. Lichtenfels, July 25th, 1874 (Starch) . e. Musquash, New Brunswick, winter of 1864 

 (A. R. Dresser). f,pull. North Cape, June 26th, 1872 (R. Collett). 



E Mus. Howard Saunders. 



a, c? ad. Orkney, June 1871 (Dunn), b, ad. Labrador (Moschler). c, d ad. South Greenland, August 22nd, 

 1871 (0. Finsch). d,juv. Brighton, September 1866 (Harting). e,juv. Dogger Bank, January 1870. 

 f,juv. Greenland, August and September (Copt. Walker, "Eric"), g, ad. Tangier, November 1871 

 (Olcese). h, i, pull. Lundy Island and Orkney, July. 



E Mus. E. Hargitt. 

 a, 3 . Havre, May 11th, 1873 (Pluche). b,juv. Havre, December 21st, 1872 (Pluche). 



4c 



