o/o 



pigment remaining longest in a soft state where it is thickest. Sometimes the Guillemot sits 

 flat upon the egg, oftener in a nearly upright position, and when unapprehensive of danger seems 

 to have a fancy for turning with its back towards the sea. I am inclined to believe what others 

 have already stated, that the egg is hatched between the legs ; and I have sometimes wondered 

 whether it is quite impossible that the young are carried down to the sea in that manner 

 accidentally. If this could once be proved it would also satisfactorily clear up the other two 

 difficulties, viz. how it happens that only a comparatively few of the young are seen in the 

 water, and how it is that fowlers and others who spend whole clays among them do not detect 

 them in the act of removal. The Guillemot is more irregular in its hour of laying than any 

 bird I know. At two o'clock in the afternoon I have seen a female shot containing a perfectly 

 coloured egg. It has happened several times that similar cases, the hour excepted, have 

 occurred at a distance of several miles from the nearest breeding-station. When a sudden 

 alarm disturbs the colony, it is sad to see numbers of eggs either falling into the sea or breaking 

 upon the rocks — a mishap so common as the bird hurries off the ledge, that it must cause a large 

 annual deficiency in the numbers. The idea that the birds wilfully destroy their eggs rather 

 than leave them to be taken by the fowler, is still prevalent in Shetland ; but the people are 

 unable to say what can be the reason for tumbling their eggs over the cliffs when a shot is fired 

 from below. Another popular belief exists, but only among those who have never visited the 

 haunts of sea-birds, that the eggs of Eazorbills and Guillemots are fixed by means of a kind of 

 glue, supplied by the birds. The owner of a remarkably fine collection of eggs questioning me 

 upon this subject, was astonished at my ignorance in the matter; and although he would not 

 contradict me, he strongly hinted at the advantages of more careful observations on the part 

 of others." 



The eggs of the Guillemot vary exceedingly in colour and markings, so much so that it is 

 difficult to get any two eggs very closely resembling each other. The ground-colour varies from 

 white to deep blue or greenish blue ; and the markings, which are sometimes mere spots and at 

 others contorted and fantastic lines, are dark brown, reddish brown, and blackish. The rarest 

 varieties appear to be those with an almost grass-green ground, and eggs of a warm white colour 

 closely clouded and marked with reddish brown and dark brown. In size those in my collection 

 vary from 3-^ - by If ^ inch to 3| by 2^ - inches. 



The food of the Guillemot consists almost entirely of small fish, frequently the herring-fry ; 

 but it feeds on small crustaceans, marine insects, and, it is said, also on small bivalve shell-fish. 

 It dives with great ease, moving about quickly under the surface of the water, and will remain 

 underneath for some time. An excellent opportunity of watching the movements of this species 

 when under water is afforded at the Brighton Aquarium, where several Guillemots belonging to 

 Mr. E. T. Booth are exhibited in one of the tanks. When standing in front of the tank and 

 looking up, one sees only a portion of the body and two legs paddling about, the rest of the bird 

 being quite invisible ; but every now and then it peers down into the water, then showing its 

 head and neck. When it dives it plunges below like a flash, evidently with considerable force, 

 sometimes straight down, sometimes in an oblique direction, bringing clown in the plumage a 

 quantity of air — which it lets off, as it moves along, in a stream of small bubbles, which look like 

 silvery pearls. It moves about under the water almost as if in the air, the wings being tolerably 



