COMMON GUILLEMOT. 
455 
NA TA TORES. 
A LOADER. 
COMMON GUILLEMOT, 
FOOLISH GUILLEMOT, TARROCK. 
UlilA TROILE. 
PLATE GXXIV. 
The Guillemot is an exceedingly abundant bird at 
most of tlie breeding-places of sea-fowl upon our coast, 
animating the otherwise sombre and silent rocks, and 
covering with its brilliantly-coloured eggs the ledges of 
the perpendicular cliffs which dip into the sea. At the 
Fern Islands, they occupy a rock, or stack, as such rocks 
are very appropriately called, which stands apart from 
the islands, surrounded by the sea, and cover it so com¬ 
pletely, that at a short distance they have the appear¬ 
ance of a stratum of the stone. The eggs are so close to¬ 
gether that it is difficult to move amongst them; and 
the surface of the rock being whitened over by the dung 
of the birds, the blue ones especially have a peculiarly 
beautiful appearance. 
At a short distance there is a low, flat rock, which the 
cormorants are in the habit of appropriating to them¬ 
selves ; and though the situation is altogether different 
from those usually chosen by them, a few Guillemots 
occasionally lay their eggs amongst the thickest ranks of 
the cormorants, having a singularly ludicrous appearance 
