2 
BLACK GUILLEMOT. 
and on otlicr spots along the coast, I remarked that the breeding-quarters of these birds were often 
situated under the large slabs of stone scattered over the ground, often at a distance of twenty or thirty 
yards above high-water mark. Though taking little notice unless their haunts were too closely inspected, 
when an alarm was once raised they usually beat a speedy retreat, and on making their appearance 
from beneath the shelter at once took wing, rising with almost the ease and rapidity of a Partridge. 
The elevation in the fissures selected by this species for breeding-purposes is generally only sufficient 
to allow tbe birds to make their way towards the eggs, which are usually located at the distance of 
three or four feet from the entrance to the cavity. The crooked sticks commonly carried by Ilighland 
shepherds proved most useful in extracting the few I needed as specimens; unless fresh laid, there were 
invariably two eggs. 
In a deep chasm among the rocks at Duncansby Head I noticed a pair of these birds feeding 
their young beneath a large grey moss-grown slab of stone lying on a slope green with grass and 
ferns, on which a pair or two of Gulls were also nesting. The little Divers were busily engaged in 
procuring food, and arrived on the scene repeatedly during the hours I remained on the summit of the 
cliffs watching the swarms of sea-birds passing within view of my position ; at various times one or the other 
stopped to rest or clean its plumage on the slope at the edge of the precipice before dashing down to 
the waves. I remarked that the visits paid by these Guillemots to their domicile occasionally attracted the 
attention of a fine old Great Black-backed Gull, sitting demurely on her eggs within a few feet of their 
quarters; now and then she turned her head in a threatening manner, but took no further notice. 
