a numerous species in the northern parts of Scotland and
the English coast, where, indeed, it is but occa-
as resorting to the Farn Islands, I

Forth ; and Mr. Selby, writing in 1833, says it is
its isles, but becomes of rarer occurrence as we approach
he adds, ‘although Montagu has mentioned it g tothe :
ot been the case for the last twenty-five or thirty years.” Sir William Jardine
ar to its southern range in Britain; but he mentions having
ally occurs on the southern coast of England.

sionally met with 5 “ and,’
can safely assert that this has n
gives the coasts of the north of Scotland as being ne

met with the species in the Isle of Man, and that it occasion
‘to find that this bird is not only equally common in the south

«It is interesting, therefore,” says Thompson,
| he rocky coast of the former as on those of

and in the north of Ireland, but that it nidifies as frequently on t
the latter portion of the island.”
Macgillivray has given us such a g ong
habits, that it would be an act of injustice to this elegant writer not to transcribe it :—
‘Suppose yourself floating on the heavy swell of the Atlantic, Ets ue nae of a cliff decorated with
luxuriant tufts of Rhodiola rosea, Silene maritima, and Statice armeria, and inhabited by Guillemots, Auks,
Here and there are narrow cracks, perpendicular and inclined. In most of them, after a

raphic description of the situations frequented by this bird, and of its

and Starlings.
5 : - looking dog half afeaal
shot has been fired, you will see one, two, or more black Guillemots looking down upon you, half afrai

to remain, and loth to leave their eggs or young. Another shot is fired, and you see them bounce away on
rapidly moving wings. ‘There, on a shelf, a dozen of them have alighted in a row ; their black plumage,
enlivened by the two white wing-spots, and their singular-looking red feet, contrast with the brown rock.
You may approach and shoot half of them if you will, for they are by no ses Ly Such are their usual
breeding-places ; for they never, like the other Auks and Guillemots, deposit their eggs on bu exposed
ledges of the cliffs. They differ from them also in laying two eggs. I nae never, however, obtained them
from such places, although I know those who, clinging to the face of the rifted crag, have done so, foolishly,
I thought, and at the peril of life; but I have many times taken them from under the large blocks of stone
near high-water mark. Nests they have none, unless a little gravel or some pebbles may be so called, The
eggs are about the same size and shape as those of a domestic fowl, being regularly ovate, from two inches
and a quarter to two inches and a half in length, and from an inch and six to an inch and seven twelfths in
breadth, sometimes smooth, often rough, with little flattened prominences, and of a greyish white, yel-
lowish white, bluish white, or sometimes pale greenish blue, and marked with blotches, spots, and dots of
dark brown, varying in tint from brownish black to umber, together with faint purplish-grey spots, the
markings larger and more numerous near the larger end. ‘The eggs are deposited in the beginning of June,
and early in August the young are abroad.

‘«¢ Their food consists of small fishes and crustacea, in search of which they frequent the sounds and bays
less than the open sea. On all the coasts of Scotland, the fry of the Coalfish is a very common article of
food with them, as with many other sea-birds. About most of their breeding-places I have not observed
them to proceed daily to any great distance; but, on leaving the rocks with their young, they disperse over
the ocean until the next spring. Yet they do not migrate far southward, most of them remaining all the
winter in the north.

‘This species sits lightly on the water, on which it paddles about in a very lively manner. It dives with
rapidity, like a shot as it were; and under water it actually flies, as I have often seen. If shot at on the
water, it will often dive—but also frequently rise on wing, and in so doing strikes the water with its wings
and feet for some distance, Its flight is quick, direct, and performed by a perpetual rapid beating of the
wings. In proceeding to a distance, they often fly in small strings, low over the water, now inclining a little
to one side, then to the other. When their nests or roosting-places are high on the rocks, they gradually
curve upward as they approach them, and alight abruptly. On the ground they move about but little, although,
on occasion, they walk moderately well and prettily, with short steps, and nearly erect. They repose either
standing or lying flat on the rock.

“The eggs, when hard-boiled, are remarkably good; but the flesh of the bird, being dark-coloured and
rank, is not agreeable, though better than that of the Auk or other Guillemots.”

The late Mr. Salmon states that the principal breeding-place in the Orkneys is a small holm, lying to the
eastward of Papa Westra, where it is very numerous, and will scarcely move off the rocks when approached.
He invariably found two eggs together, deposited upon the bare ground, principally under the large fragments
of rocks scattered about upon the island, without any appearance of nest. The young are at first covered
with a greyish black down, through which mottled feathers of black and white soon protrude. Both
adults and young exhibit a considerable amount of white during the winter, and in this state form the
‘** Marbled Guillemot ” of older authors.

The Plate represents the bird in summer aud in winter plumage, of the size of life. I trust my readers
will excuse the incongruity of placing birds in the dress of opposite seasons on the same plate.