216 
ALCIDtE. 
fish in its bill ; — a spotted blenny ( Blennms gunnellus ) was found 
in the stomach of one. 
Early in July 1834, we met with the black guillemot, about the 
largest of the Isles of Arran, off Galway Bay, and on the coast 
of Clare. Mr. T. E. Neligan, when mentioning its breeding on 
the Kerry coast in 1837, where it then was and still is numerous, 
added, that, in a nest containing two eggs, which he had found, 
the male bird was captured, and exhibited two patches bare of 
feathers, caused by his incubation.* The species has been shot 
near Valentia Island in winter. On the coast of Cork it breeds 
at the Keannies, &c., in company with the common guillemot and 
razorbill ;t — on the cliffs of Ardmore (Waterford), and others 
in the south, it builds; also at Bray Head, county Wicklow r . 
On my visiting (with Mr. B. Ball) the island of Ireland's Eye, 
off Howth, in April 1835 and early in July 1837, and cross- 
ing to Lambay Island on the 5th of June, 1838, several were 
seen — they nidify at both islands 4 When flying, the white 
patch on the wing is very conspicuous. 
The late Mr. J. Montgomery noted this species as “ beginning 
to arrive after the breeding season at the bay of Strangford on 
the 29th of July, 1822 : they were all in black plumage [there- 
fore adults], not a grey or speckled one being amongst them." 
It was added, that “ when rising on wing, this bird assists itself 
by striking the water rapidly with its feet." Specimens killed 
almost every year, at various times during the winter, on the 
marine loughs of Larne, Belfast, and Strangford, have come 
* Mr. Audubon remarks — “ The black guillemot, to cover her three eggs [this 
number he found in all of the many nests that came under his observation on the 
American coast], and to warm them all at once, plucks a space bare quite across her 
belly. * * * The males [of the black, common, and Brunnich’s guillemot, as 
well as of the razorbill] incubate as well as the females, although the latter are more 
assiduous” (vol. iii. p. 145). This author, commencing at p. 148, gives a very good 
description of the habits, &c., of the black guillemot, marred, however, by the in- 
troduction of extraneous matter. 
f Mr. It. Warren, jun. ; — who has never seen more than three or four pair there 
in a day. 
X Mr. It. J. Montgomery wrote to me after visiting Lambay in June 1849, that they 
build on the south side of the island, where there are no cliffs, but that he was 
unable to find their eggs. 
