GUILLEMOT, gil'O-mot (Fr. guillemot, from Bret. gtcelan, Welsh gicylan, corn. gullan, grill + OF. ,noette, Fr. mouette, dialectic Fr. mauler, from OHG. meh, Icel. mar, Dutch 'nectar, Ger. :Moue, AS. macw, Eng. mew). Any auk (q.v.) of the genera Cepphus and 1.7ria ; specifically. the common or 'foolish' guillemot (Uria. troile). These auks are extremely abundant in the Arctic regions and the colder parts of the temperate zone, particularly in the neighborhood of rocky coasts, the winter migrations extending as far south as the Mediterranean. It is called foolish guillemot from its often suffering itself to he taken by the hand rather than leave the cliffs on which it breeds, where numbers may be seen stationed close together on the ledges of rock. It lays only one egg, which has a very thick shell, is pear-shaped (ace Eon), and remarka bly large. being more than three inches long. This egg exhibits remarkable variety in color ing. No nest is made, hut the brooding bird places its webbed toes beneath the egg when incubating, and warms it beneath and between its thighs. The skin, with the feathers, is used for clothing in some northern regions. Young birds and eggs are among the objects in pursuit of which the rock-fowlers of the northern coasts scale or descend terrifying precipices.
Great numbers of the eggs are exported from the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. In the North Pacific the common guillemot is re placed by a subspecies of Uria troile, called Cali forniea. The thick-billed guillemot or 'arrie' (Uria lonivia) has the same distribution in the New World as' the common guillemot, and the Pacific coast form is called 'arra.' It is a some what larger bird than the other, and has a bill much shorter and thicker. The black guillemot (Cepphus grylle) is a smaller species, about 14 inches long; the plumage is entirely black in summer, except a large white patch on each wing, but in winter the under parts are white. The young are mottled or spotted. It is plentiful throughout the Arctic regions, and has been called `Greenland dove.' It lays three eggs, often on the bare rock; but if the situation is damp it piles up for them a curious nest of pebbles. On the Pacific coast it is replaced by two similar spe cies, the pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba) and the sooty guillemot (Cepphus earbo).