VIII. 
THE BLACK GUILLEMOT-YOUNG AND EGG. 
This plate is a delineation of tlie Black Guillemot’s nest, or rather of the place 
where her eggs were laid, on a rocky island in Loch Ailort. The young ones 
were drawn from life, and were not injured by the operation. 
As a correspondent of the Field has referred to this plate as a rare 
instance of the Black Guillemot laying three eggs, it should be stated that 
two birds had each laid two eggs very near one another in the crevice 
represented, and as the young birds run as soon as they leave the egg, the 
birds and egg sketched formed in reality part of two broods. 
So far as we have observed the bird always lays two eggs, and no more. 
