146 FOOLISH GUILLEMOT.
ing any very regular order. Sometimes they seem to skim along the surface
for miles, while at other times they fly at the height of thirty or forty
yards. They are expert divers, using their wings like fins, and under
water looking like winged fishes. They frequently plunge at the flash of
the gun, and disappear for a considerable time. Before rising, they are
obliged to run as it were on the water, fluttering for many yards before
they get fairly on wing.
Those which I kept alive for weeks on board the Ripley, walked
about and ran with ease, with the whole length of their tarsus touching
the deck. They took leaps on chests and other objects to raise themselves,
but could not fly without being elevated two or three feet, although
when they are on the rocks, and can take a run of eight or ten yards,
they easily rise on wing.
The islands on which the Guillemots breed on the coast of Labrador,
are flattish at top, and it is there, on the bare rock, that they deposit
their eggs. I saw none standing on the shelvings of high rocks, although
many breed in such places in some parts of Europe. Their food consists
of small fish, shrimps, and other marine animals ; and they swallow some
gravel also.
UBIA TROILE, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 796—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds
of the United States, p. 424.—Swains, and Bichards. Fauna-Bor. Amer. vol. ii.
p. 477-
FOOLISH GUILLEMOT, OR MURRE, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 526.
Adult Male, in summer. Plate CCXVIII.
Bill of moderate length, rather stout, tapering, compressed, acute.
Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly curved, the ridge narrow,
broader at the base, the sides sloping, the edges short and inflected, the
tip a little decurved with a slight notch. Nasal groove broad, feathered;
nostrils at its lower edge, sub-basal, lateral, longitudinal, linear, pervious.
Lower mandible, with the angle medial, narrow, the dorsal line sloping
upwards, and straight, the back very narrow, the sides nearly flat, the
edges sharp and inflected.
Head oblong, depressed, narrowed before. Eyes rather small. Neck
short and thick. Body stout, rather depressed. Wings rather small.
Feet short, placed far behind; the greater part of the tibia concealed, its
lower portion bare; tarsus short, stout, compressed, anteriorly sharp, and
F O O L I S H GUILLEMOT. 147
covered with a double row of scutella, the sides with angular scales ; toes
of moderate length, the first wanting, the third nearly longest, the fourth
longer than the second; all covered above with numerous scutella, webbed,
the lateral ones with small margins; claws small, slightly arched, compressed,
rather acute, the middle one larger, with a dilated inner edge.
Plumage dense, very soft, blended ; on the head very short. Wings
rather short, narrow, acute; primary quills curved, tapering, the first
longest, the second little shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries
short, incurved, broad, rounded. Tail very short, rounded, of twelve
narrow feathers.
Eill black ; inside of mouth gamboge-yellow. Iris dark brown. Feet
black. The general colour of the plumage is greyish-black on the upper
parts; the sides of the head and upper part of the neck black, tinged
with brown. A white bar across the wing, formed by the tips of the secondary
quills, and a line of the same encircling the eye, and extending
behind it. The lower parts white.
Length to end of tail 17^ inches, to end of claws 19£, to end of wings
17£; extent of wings 30 inches; wing from flexure 7£; tail 2; tarsus
135 ; middle toe 17
, its claw 6
. Weight 2 lb.
T
T
2 T
5 Adult Female. Plate CCXVIII. Fig. 2.
The Female is similar to the male, and, when mature, has the white
line round and behind the eye.
K 2