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hundred feet above the sea, the debris extending from the shore three hundred feet to the cliffs 

 being too compact to afford secure nesting-retreats. In descending to the sea these birds make 

 such a swish through the air that some of our party mistook the sound for gusts of wind. On 

 the 18th August, when embayed in the ice not far from the shore, in lat. 79° 37' N., numbers of 

 Dovekies that breed in the neighbouring cliffs were constantly visiting the pool of water in which 

 we lay. Fish must have been abundant ; for they did not take long to capture one, which they 

 held in their bills by the head. I did not observe them, as they returned to land, ever carrying 

 more than one fish at a time. On the 23rd August, at Bessels Bay, Dovekies were numerous, 

 and they flew up to the cliffs with fish in their bills. I shot here a female, with a fish in her 

 bill, as she passed the boat in which I was ; but the fish sank before we reached the bird. On 

 the 29th August 1875, in Ship-rudder Bay, I saw a single Dovekie; and on the morning of the 

 2nd September, in lat. 82° 27' N., a single Dovekie flew past the ship, head to wind, which was 

 blowing a gale at the time; and this was the last time when I observed this species in 1875." 



In general habits the present species assimilates not a little to the common Guillemot ; 

 and, like that species, it is a sea-bird, found, except during the breeding-season, tolerably far out 

 at sea, though scarcely so much so as that species, and subsisting almost entirely on small fishes 

 and crustacea, which it obtains chiefly by diving. For the purpose of nidification it resorts to 

 the rock-bound portion of the coast, and frequently breeds in company with the Razorbill, 

 Puffin, and common Guillemot. 



It swims with ease, sitting very lightly on the water, and dives like a flash, slightly extending 

 its wings as it plunges below the surface. "When fired at, or suddenly alarmed, when swimming, 

 it usually dives, but will sometimes take wing, which it appears to do with some difficulty, 

 striking the water with its wings and feet for some distance. Its flight is, Macgillivray says, 

 " quick, direct, performed by a perpetual rapid beating of the wings. In proceeding to a distance 

 they often fly in small strings, low over the water, now inclining a little to one side, then to the 

 other. When their nests or roosting-places are high on the rocks, they gradually curve upward 

 as they approach them, and alight abruptly. On the ground they move little about, although 

 on occasions they walk moderately well, and prettily, with short steps, and nearly erect. They 

 repose either standing or lying flat on the rock." 



Unlike the Auks and other Guillemots, the present species never deposits its eggs on the 

 exposed ledges of the rocks, and instead of one egg it deposits two or three. It makes no nest, 

 but deposits its eggs on the bare ground or gravel, in a cleft or under a large block of stone, 

 sometimes near the water's edge, and sometimes at a considerable altitude. Its eggs, of which I 

 possess a considerable series, are white, or greenish white, spotted and blotched with purplish 

 shell-markings and blackish brown surface-spots and blotches, some being more and others less 

 closely marked. One egg in my collection has the ground-colour pale sea-green ; and another has 

 the larger end almost entirely covered with one large blackish brown blotch. In size they vary 

 from 2\% by lf^ inch to 2f§ by Iff inch. 



Dr. E. Coues has, in his Monograph of the Alcidse, published in the Proc. Acad. Nat. 

 Sciences of Philadelphia for 1868, treated very fully of the various species of Black Guillemot; 

 and I can fully indorse his views, except that I cannot agree with him in uniting JJria mandti 

 and JJria grylle, but follow Professor Newton in recognizing the claim of the former to specific 



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