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BLACK GUILLEMOT.
Uria Grylle, Lath.

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Le Guillemot 4 miroir blanc.

Tue northern parts of Scotland and the ( Irkney and Shetland Islands
the Black Guillemot, which being less migratory in its habits th

Lroile, Lath.) seldom quits these isolated Sroups, whose bays afford it shelter during the stormy season of
winter, and whose abrupt and precipitous cliffs are equally inviting as a site for incubation. On the ledges of
these rocks it deposits its single white egg spotted with black: the young are hatched in about three weeks,
and shortly after are conveyed, but by what means is unknown, to the water, an element to which they are so
expressly adapted that they are enabled to swim and dive with the utm
its surface, and to brave with impunity the rough

form a place of general rendezvous for
an its near ally the Foolish Guillemot (Cria

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ost facility the moment they arrive on

seas which are so prevalent in northern latitudes. After
the process of reproduction is over, the adults are subject to a considerable ch

plumage, apparently caused by a general moult, even to the primaries, which
bird is for a considerable period deprived of the power of flight.

ange in the colour of their
are so simultaneously lost that the

The fine black plumage by which the Black
Guillemot is characterized during the summer now gives place to a mottled dress, con

sisting of half white
and half black feathers unequally dispersed ove

r the body, the former colour predominating so much during

the rigorous season of winter as to render the bird almost wholly white. Although this style of plumage

characterizes, to a certain extent, the young of the year, still the latter may at all times be distinguished from
the former by having the tips of each feather, which is white beneath, only fringed with black ; by h
white spot on the wings, at all times uniform in the adult, invariably clouded with black
being yellowish brown instead of red.

aving the
; and by the feet

Although a few pairs of the Black Guillemot occasionally breed on the Isle of May in the mouth of the
Frith of Forth, still it is evident that the high northern latitudes form its most congenial and natural habitat.
It appears to abound in the arctic circle, being equally common in the polar regions of both continents.
According to the continental writers, it is less abundant on the coasts of Holland and France than on those
of England, but more frequent on those of Norway and the shores of the Baltic. It rarely, if ever, resorts to
inland waters.

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Its principal food consists of small fish, marine crustacea, &c.
The sexes are alike in plumage, and the adults, in summer, may be distinguished by their having the whole

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of the plumage of a sooty-black tinged with olive-green, with the exception of a snow-white patch on the
centre of each wing; bill black ; irides and feet red.
The Plate represents an adult and a young bird of the natural size.

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