BIRDS 445 



can distinguish a few Guillemots far below you, as they fly off 

 their ledges to the sea ; but the colony is seen to best advantage 

 by the simple expedient of taking a boat from Whitehaven. 

 This is the only colony on the mainland of the N.W. of England. 

 As a natural consequence, the species is somewhat localised in 

 summer, but when shoals of fishes arrive upon our shores they 

 are frequently attended by considerable numbers of Guillemots. 

 There can be no doubt that a good many unpaired birds pass 

 the summer in the Irish Channel and accommodate their move- 

 ments to the food-supply. Heavy indeed is the mortality among 

 both adult and young birds during the storms of autumn and 

 winter. Many are beached, lying with the white breast upper- 

 most, upon the sands of the Sol way Firth; but probably the 

 largest quantity are washed ashore between Seascale and the 

 south end of Walney Island. 



BLACK GUILLEMOT. 



Uriagrylle (L.). 



In the month of October 1891 a Black Guillemot was caught 

 alive in a ditch between Silloth and the Abbey Holme. It 

 appeared to be exhausted at the time of capture, but, being 

 transferred to a small pond, it soon recovered from its fatigue 

 and dived actively for food. It lived about a week in semi- 

 confinement. It was wearing the plumage of the first winter. 

 Why it had wandered a few miles into the interior I am unable 

 to say. Such conduct is rarely resorted to by this Guillemot, 

 though its powers of flight are excellent. The late Mr. Grayson 

 informed me that some thirty years ago he stuffed two full- 

 dressed Black Guillemots which had been shot near Whitehaven 

 in the spring of the year. The only other specimen that can be 

 vouched for as having visited us in recent years was observed 

 by Mr. W. Duckworth near Silloth in 1886. It is to be 

 supposed that this Auk must sometimes visit the waters of 

 Morecambe Bay, but I have not succeeded in tracing its presence 

 there. 



