26(3 THE LARGE-BILLED GUILLEMOT. 



similar to that of the Foolish Guillemot, with which it associated. No other 

 information was transmitted, excepting that it dived and swam like the other 

 species. I afterwards sent the skin to my friend the Rev. John Bachman, 

 in whose collection it remains. 



No individuals of this species were observed by my party on our way to 

 Labrador; and as the Foolish Guillemot was abundant on the coast of that 

 country, I concluded that the Thick-billed Guillemots which visit our 

 eastern seas in winter, set out for the far north at an earlier period than 

 the others. I am indebted to Mr. Hewitson of Newcastle, author of the 

 "British Oology," for a description of an egg of this bird, which is in the 

 valuable collection of the Messrs. Hancocks, who procured it from Green- 

 land. It measures 3-g- inches in length, by 2-g- at its broadest part, and is of a 

 bluish-green colour, streaked and spotted with black or very dark umber. 



Male, 181, 30. 



Occasionally procured in Maine. Not very rare off the coast of Nova 

 Scotia. Breeds from Hudson's Bay to the Arctic Seas. 



Uria Brunnichu, Bonap. Syn., p. 424. 



Uria Brunnichu, BriinnicWs Guillemot, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 



477. 

 Large-billed Guillemot, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 529. 

 Large-billed Guillemot, Uria Brunnichii, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 336. 



Adult Male in winter. 



Bill shorter than the head, stout, tapering, compressed, acute. Upper 

 mandible with the dorsal line slightly curved, the ridge narrow, broader at 

 the base, the sides sloping, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip a little 

 decurved, with a slight notch. Nasal groove broad, feathered; nostrils at its 

 lower edge, sub-basal, lateral, longitudinal, linear, pervious. Lower man- 

 dible with the angle medial, narrow, the dorsal line sloping upwards and 

 straight, the back very narrow, the sides nearly flat, the edges sharp and 

 inflected. 



Head large, oblong, depressed, narrowed before. Eyes of moderate size. 

 Neck short and thick. Body stout, rather depressed. Wings small. Feet 

 short, placed far behind; the greater part of the tibia concealed, its lower 

 portion bare; tarsus short, stout, compressed, anteriorly sharp, and covered 

 with a double row of scutella, the sides with angular scales; toes of moderate 

 length, the first wanting, the third longest, the fourth longer than the second, 

 all covered above with numerous scutella, webbed, the lateral ones with 

 small margins; claws small, slightly arched, compressed, rather acute, that of 

 the middle toe largest, with a dilated inner edge. 



Plumage dense, very soft, blended; on the head very short. Wings 



