URIA, Briss. Tem. Conymnus and ALCA, Lin. Gun,- LEMOT.
Bill middle-sized, short, stout, straight, pointed, com pressed, upper mandible slightly incurved near the point; nostrils basal, lateral, concave, .longitudinally cleft, half._ closed by a broad membrane, covered with feathers, and pervious; legs short, placed far behind ; tarsi slender, fur nished with only three toes, which are placed before and webbed ; wings short. The guillemots, like the divers, are residents of the northern seas, little fitted for moving on land, and seldom venturing on shore except in breed ing time, or when impelled by tempests. During the ri gour of their native climates, they migrate southwards, along the coasts of some of the countries of Europe. They dive with great facility, and swim nimbly under water. They breed in company, in the holes of rocks, each fe male laying only one large egg. They moult twice a-year; and the complete winter plumage of the sexes is the same; nor do the young materially differ in their markings from the mature birds.
U. troile, Lath. Tem. Colymbus troile, and Colynibus minor, Gmel. Foolish, or Lesser Guillemot, 1171 lock, Skout, Kiddaw, Guillern, Laity, Strany, Lungy, Skuttock, &c. Bill much compressed in its whole length, longer than the head ; wings of an uniform colour, but the secondaries tipped with white; legs dusky. Length from fifteen to seventeen inches ; extent of wing twenty-seven inches and a half; and weight twenty-four ounces, being a plump and heavy bird in proportion to its size. Inhabits the northern seas of Europe, Asia, and America, migrating, in large troops, in winter, to the coasts of Norway, the Baltic, Great Britain, Holland, France, &c. but more rarely wandering to the interior lakes of continents. Feeds on fish, particularly sprats, marine insects, bivalve testacea, &c. It often breeds in company with the auks, among the cliffs of the rocks, as in the Isle of Priestholm, near Anglesea, the Fern Isles, on the coast of Northumberland, and the precipitous rocks near Scarborough. In St. Kilda, it arrives about the be ginning of February, and is hailed by the inhabitants as the harbinger of plenty. A rock-man of this remote island will descend in the night, by the help of a rope, to the ledge of a precipice, where he fixes himself, and tying round him a piece of white linen, awaits the approach of the bird, which, mistaking the cloth for a portion of the rock, alights on it, and is immediately dispatched. The foolish guillemot lays but one egg, which is very large, unprotected by any nest, and has such a slender hold of the rock, that, when the birds are surprised and fly off suddenly, many of the eggs tumble down into the sea. The eggs are beautifully variegated with black, white, yellow, blue, and green ; and scarcely any two of them exactly resemble one another. These birds seldom quit the duty of incubation, unless disturbed, but are fed with sprats, and other small fish, by the male. In places where they are seldom molested, it is with difficulty they are put to fight; and they may sometimes be taken with the hand,.
whilst others flounder into the water, making, apparently, little use of their wings. In Orkney, they continue throughout the winter. They are sometimes very numer ous in the Frith of Forth, where they seem to subsist chiefly on sprats.
U. grylle, Lath. Sze. Colymbus grylle, Lin. Szc. Black, or Spotted Guillemot, Prow. Greenland Dave, Sea Turtle, Tyste, &c. A large white patch on the middle of the wings; legs red. Black above, white beneath, and on the cheeks; iris brown. The mature male measures thirteen inches in length, twenty-two in extent of wing, and .weighs about fourteen ounces. Inhabits the northern regions, and migrates in winter to more southern latitudes, but is seldom seen on shore. It is common in the Bay of Dub lin, and continues throughout the year. Mr. Henry Boys observed both the old and young birds, in the month of August, near Stonehayen, in the north of Scotland, It likewise frequents the Faroe Isles, the Bass, St. Kilda, &c. visiting them in March, making its nest far under ground, and laying one oblong egg, of a dirty white, blotched with large and small spots of black and cinereous, which are crowded near one of the ends. Except in breed ing time, it keeps always at sea, lives on fish, flies low, and generally in pairs. It cannot, without considerable difficulty, rise from the ground. Its feathers are thick and close, and so damp with the quantity of oil with which the bird takes care to anoint them, as to have a very rank smell, and to be thus unfit for the purposes of bedding, for which they would otherwise be excellently suited. The Greenlanders cat its flesh, and use its skin for cloth ing, and its legs as bait to their fishing lines.
U. alle, Tern. Alca alle, Lin. &c. U. minor, Briss. Mergulus alle, Vieil. Little Auk, or Small Black and White Diver, Prov. Little Greenland Dove, Sea Turtle, Rotche, Bodge, Batch, Ice-bird, Ste. Bill very short, about half as long as the head, and very little arched. These birds inhabit the northern seas, at least as high as latitude where they abound among the channels be tween the flocs of ice. During storms or intense cold, some of them arc impelled into more southerly climates, but very few of them breed with us. They feed much on a small species of cancer, and breed in the holes and crevices of craggy rocks, without any formal preparation of a nest, the female laying one bluish-green egg, gene rally without spots, but sometimes minutely sprinkled with dusky. Captain Ross and his crew encountered myriads of these birds in the frozen seas through which they navigated. In July and August, the ship's company were daily supplied with them, and relished them as a palatable food, destitute of any fishy flavour. They were found in particular to make excellent soup, not unlike, and not at all inferior to, that made of hare. The Esquimaux make inner garments of the skins.