304 
ALCAD.E. 
hi winter, the inside of the mouth and the feet are not so 
brightly coloured as in summer, and those jyarts are always still 
less brightly coloured in the younger birds. This fact has 
now been well known to me for so long as to make it seem 
scarcely worth noticing. However, as I was nnahle to obtain 
any assistance even from oiir best authors, and was therefore 
compelled to have recourse to my gun, it is possible that the 
mention of it here may enable others to avoid resorting to a 
similar extreme. 
Adult in December. — Eye nearly black ; bill not so black as 
in summer ; tarsi, feet, and inside of mouth, coral red, slightly 
tinged with orange ; back of tarsi and under surface of feet, 
dusky. 
Adult in breeding plumage. — Eye nearly black ; bill shining 
black ; tarsi, feet, and inside of mouth, vermilion, deeply tinged 
with carmine ; no dusky marks on tarsi or feet. 
I'oung at the end of August. — The eye is dark brown ; bill 
blackish grey ; inside of mouth pale orange ; tarsi and feet deep 
brown, the front of former and upper surface of the latter 
paler. By the end of September the inside of the mouth has 
changed to brownish pink, and the legs and feet to a deeper 
brownish pink. In December the colours of these parts very 
nearly resemble those of the adult at that time, but are not 
so much tinged with red. By the end of June the bird has 
acquired its full plumage, and is undistinguishable from the 
adult. 
The first eggs of the Black Guillemot are seldom found before 
the beginning of June, during the whole of which month they 
may be procured in a fresh state, but seldom many days later. 
The eggs are always two in number, and are either deposited, 
without any nest, in crevices of cliffs, not very far beyond the 
reach of the waves, or upon beaches, beneath large rocks. I 
have also found them fifty or sixty yards inland, on grassy 
slopes strewn with rocks, but I have never seen anything 
having the least resemblance to a nest. The eggs present very 
little variety in appearance, and are coloared much like those 
