this species “ has been once met with ” on the coast of
Banffshire. A reputed specimen, identified by “ the late
Mr. Wilson of Woodville,” is said to he in the collection of
Mr. E. S. Sinclair of Wick, and to have been shot in Caithness
(Gray’s * B. W. Scot.’ p. 422); and Mr. Gray has
examined one preserved by a birdstuffer at Hamilton, which
was reported to have been obtained on the west coast of
Scotland. Mr. A. G. More states, in ‘ Yenables’ Guide to
the Isle of Wight,’ Zoology, p. 34 (1860), that it “ was
obtained by Mr. Rogers, at Freshwater, Feb. 7th, 1860,” but
the resting-place of this rare example is not indicated. In
Dr. Bullmore’s ‘ Cornish Fauna’ (p. 39), one is said to have
been obtained off Rosemullion Head; but it is evident that
Mr. Rodd was somewhat doubtful as to the correctness of the
identification or of the occurrence; and the late Mr. Gould
does not so much as allude to the species in the Introduction
to his ‘ Birds of Great Britain.’ The Rev. Churchill Bab-
ington has kindly sent, for the inspection of the Editor, an
undoubted Brunnich’s Guillemot, purchased at the sale of
the Museum of Sudbury, Suffolk, where it formed part of a
case of twelve ‘ British Aquatic Birds,’ Lot 230, but although
there is considerable reason for presuming that it was obtained
near the mouth of the Orwell, there is no direct evidence on the
point. Lastly, Mr. H. Blake-Knox says (Zool. s.s. p. 2609)
that “ in June [1870] an adult female was found floating off
the Irish coast: the bird had been dead many days ; I
hardly call this a fair Irish bird.” As this rare example
was not too far advanced in decomposition for the sex to be
distinguished, it is to be hoped that it was preserved, for
whether Irish or not, it probably died “ within the four
seas.” In 1876, Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., published his
analysis of the so-called British-killed Brunnich’s Guillemots
(Rambles of a Naturalist, p. 271), and since that date there
seem to have been no further records.
Brunnich’s Guillemot is in fact a northern species, which
has not as yet been found on the Faeroes, and only visits the
coasts of Norway and the North Sea in winter, for Mr.
Collett has never succeeded in finding a breeding-place, and
Nilsson’s statement that it breeds on the Carlsoar, off
Gottland, in the Baltic, requires confirmation. A straggler
is said to have been obtained near Flensborg, and two, at
long intervals, on the coast of Denmark; moreover, Mr. E.
Hargitt’s collection contains a specimen taken near Havre,
in France. Even in Iceland it seems to be very local, and
almost confined to the northern portion. In Greenland it is
found in immense numbers, breeding as far south as 64° N.
latitude. Major Feilden describes (Zool. 1878, p. 380) a visit
to a vast colony or “ loomery ” in the cliffs of Sanderson’s
Hope, which rise over a thousand feet in height, a little to
the south of Upernavik, and he observed two individuals in
August as far north as Buchanan Strait, in 79° N. lat., after
which this bird was not seen again until the return of the
‘ Alert ’ to navigable water, south of Cape Sabine, the north
water of Baffin Bay being evidently the limit of its range in
that direction.
On the cliffs of Spitsbergen, especially the Alkefjell, and
on the neighbouring islands, it breeds in millions, and it is
abundant on Franz-Josef Land, where Payer says it made
its appearance on the 24th of May. It swarms on Novaya
Zemlya, and probably occurs in suitable localities along the
north coast and islands of Siberia, for Nordenskiold saw it
east of Cape Cheljuskin, and found half-grown young on the
Preobraschenij Islands, in 116° E. long., on the 24tli of
August, during the voyage of the £ Vega.’ He reports it as
wintering in those Arctic regions, wherever open places occur
during that season; and he obtained it at Irgunnuk on the
30th of April, 1879, while his ship was imprisoned in the
ice. The naturalist of the ‘ Jeannette ’ found it breeding in
abundance on Bennett Island; but in Bering Sea and in the
North Pacific, down to Japan on the one side and California
on the other, it appears to be replaced by a closely-allied
form to which American naturalists apply the name of Uriel
arra. On the east side of America the winter range of
Brunnich’s Guillemot has been known to extend to New
Jersey.
In its habits and food, so far as is known, this species