B R U N N I C H ’S GUILLEMOT.
Uria Brunnichii, Sabine.
Le Guillemot a gros bee.
T his species may at all tim.es be distinguished from the Uria Troile, with which it has been often confounded,
by the stout and abbreviated form of the bill, and by the much shorter space between the nasal orifices
and the tip. We are only able to give a figure of it in its supposed summer plumage, which resembles
that of the Common Guillemot, with this exception, that the dark parts are deeper and much more intense
in colour, verging indeed towards sooty black. Although we have no authentic account of its having
been captured in the British Islands, we feel convinced that it must occasionally occur along our northern
shores. It is very abundant in Greenland, Spitsbergen, Davis’s Straits, and Baffin’s Bay; it doubtless also
tenants the rugged shores of Norway, Lapland, &c.; and its habits in all probability closely resemble those
of its congeners.
Crown of the head and all the upper surface glossy brownish black; sides of the face and front of the neck
dark sooty black; tips of the secondaries and all the under surface white; bill black ; gape bright yellow;
feet greenish.
Our figure is of the natural size.