460 
ALCADiE. 
NATA TORES. 
ALCADjE. 
BRUNNICH'S GUILLEMOT. 
Uria Brunnichii. 
PLATE CXXV. 
The eggs of this species, although very closely resem¬ 
bling those of the common guillemot, may almost always 
be readily distinguished from them ; they are shorter in 
proportion to their breadth, and much more rounded to¬ 
wards the smaller end, and in shape more like eggs of 
the razor-bill; they may resemble some eggs of the com¬ 
mon guillemot in contour, but are never so elegant in 
their form as the eggs of that species. In colour they 
are even more rich and varied. Mr. Hancock has a 
large drawer filled with varieties of this egg, and it is 
one of the most beautiful sights of the kind I have ever 
seen. The eggs of BrunniclTs Guillemot run through all 
the white-coloured varieties of the other species; but 
Mr. Hancock tells me, after examining several hundred 
specimens, that, however white the ground-colour may 
appear to be, the shell of the eggs, upon holding them 
to the light, is always dyed with greenish blue, which 
is not the case with eggs of the common guillemot, the 
ground-colour of which is often tinted with yellow. The 
eggs of this bird are seldom fantastically streaked or 
smeared with colour, like those of the other species; 
they are sometimes very regularly and beautifully marked 
