The guillemot is a web-footed bird closely related to the loon or else to the extinct auk. It nests on the ledges of rocky cliffs along both shores of the North Atlantic, laying a single white, pear-shaped egg, about three inches in length. The bird is said to carry its young on its back from the cliff to the water. Prodigious numbers nest together on these rocks. Until lately, at least, they were so unaccustomed to danger from man that they allowed themselves to be taken by hand; hence the term, "foolish guillemot." The wings are very small, yet the bird flies reasonably well. The legs are placed well back like those of a loon, which, indeed, the guillemot resembles more than any other bird with which inland Americans are at all familiar. It is an expert diver and lives on a fish diet.
