THE FOOLISH GUILLEMOT. 271 



while at other times they fly at the height of thirty or forty yards. They 

 are expert divers, using their wings like fins,, and under water looking like 

 winged fishes. They frequently plunge at the flash of the gun, and disap- 

 pear for a considerable time. Before rising, they are obliged to run as it 

 were on the water, fluttering for many yards before they get fairly on wing. 



Those which I kept alive for weeks on board the Ripley, walked about 

 and ran with ease, with the whole length of their tarsus touching the deck. 

 They took leaps on chests and other objects to raise themselves, but could 

 not fly without being elevated two or three feet, although when they are on 

 the rocks, and can take a run of eight or ten yards, they easily rise on wing. 



The islands on which the Guillemots breed on the coast of Labrador, are 

 flattish at top, and it is there, on the bare rock, that they deposit their eggs. 

 I saw none standing on the shelvings of high rocks, although many breed in 

 such places in some parts of Europe. Their food consists of small fish, 

 shrimps, and other marine animals; and they swallow some gravel also. 



Uria Troile, Bonap. Syn., p. 424. 



Uria Troile, Foolish Guillemot, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 477. 



Foolish Guillemot, or Mdrre, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 526. 



Foolish Guillemot, Uria Troile, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 142. 



Male, 17^, 30. 



More or less abundant during winter on the coast of Massachusetts and 

 Maine, rarely as far south as New York. Breeds in vast multitudes on the 

 Rocky Islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, and Labrador. 

 Occasionally found in Hudson's Bay. 



Adult Male, in summer. 



Bill of moderate length, rather stout, tapering, compressed, acute. Upper 

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

 the base, the sides sloping, the edges short 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 oblong, depressed, narrowed before. Eyes rather small. Neck 

 short and thick. Body stout, rather depressed. Wings rather 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 nearly longest, the fourth longer than the 



