570 



the other hand, expressly states (Orn. N. Norw. p. 118) that all he examined at the Stappen 

 breeding-place, near the North Cape, belonged to the common form. 



Nilsson says that it is occasionally seen in the spring at Kullen, in Skane ; but it does not 

 appear to penetrate up the Baltic, or to occur on the Baltic coasts of Finland ; but Palmen states 

 (Finl. Fogl. ii. p. 670) that, according to Lilljeborg, it is not uncommon at Schuretskaja, and 

 Mr. M. Brenner met with it at Keljatni on the 11th July 1863. In Denmark, Mr. Collin states 

 (Skand. Fugl. p. 734), it is very common on the coast in the winter, but breeds only on Born- 

 holm, in the so-called " Muleklov," and on the cliffs towards the sea at Hammeren. It is also 

 stated to breed on Christianso and on Heligoland. During the winter season it is found here 

 and there in the German Ocean ; and Professor Schlegel says that it is met with on the Dutch 

 coast from September to April. On the coast of Belgium it is abundant in winter ; and occa- 

 sionally stragglers are found on the rivers and marshes of the interior. In France it breeds in 

 suitable localities on the northern and western coasts, but on the Mediterranean coasts it is of 

 rare occurrence ; and MM. Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye only cite one instance, viz. of 

 five specimens, which were captured on the Etang de Berre on the 25th February 1853, one of 

 these being a Ringed Guillemot. It occurs on the coast of Portugal, and is, according to 

 Professor Barboza du Bocage, common at Peniche, Cazimbra, &c. Southward of this it becomes 

 rarer, but it straggles down to the coasts of North-west Africa. Colonel Irby says that it is 

 occasionally seen in small numbers about the Straits of Gibraltar in winter, especially after severe 

 weather from the westward ; but in the Mediterranean it is of very rare occurrence. Mr. Howard 

 Saunders says that he only knows of three instances of its having been obtained there ; and 

 Mr. C. A. Wright, who included it in his list of the birds of Malta and Gozo, subsequently 

 ascertained that the specimen obtained was not a Guillemot, but the young of the Razorbill. 

 How far it ranges down the African coast I am unable to say, but probably not far. Dr. Carl 

 Bolle states, on the authority of Berthelot, that it occurs off the Canaries ; but I do not find this 

 confirmed by later observers who have visited those islands. Nor can I give the eastern limit of 

 its range in the north of Europe ; but it probably does not range far east of the north-east coast 

 of Lapland, and in Novaya Zemlya and Spitzbergen it is replaced by Alca bruennichi. On the 

 American coast it is common on the east side of the continent down to the southern coast of 

 New England. Dr. E. Coues says that it is found to or beyond 80° N. lat., and breeds from 

 Nova Scotia northward, ranging in winter to the extreme southern coast of New England. It 

 does not appear to occur on the Pacific coast, being there replaced by Alca calif omica (Bryant). 



The curious variety of the present species, usually known by the name of the Ringed 

 or Bridled Guillemot, is very much less numerous than the common race. As a rule about 

 one in ten, or one in about fifteen, belongs to this form ; but in some breeding-colonies it is 

 more, and in others less numerous. As above stated, Pastor Sommerfelt speaks of the large 

 proportion of the Ringed form in the north of Norway ; but this is denied by Mr. Collett, who 

 more recently visited the breeding-colonies at the North Cape. Mr. J. A. Harvie states that the 

 Ringed variety is abundant on Handa as compared with other bird-stations on the Scotch coast, 

 and that he calculated that every tenth or twelfth bird belonged to this variety. This agrees 

 with what Mr. Wolley remarks respecting the same breeding-station, viz. that " in every row 

 of ten or twenty Guillemots one or two were seen to have the white above the eye." It may 



