'It will be observed that my figures represent the two birds known by the names of the Common and Bridled or Ringed Guillemot' Gould commented 'the 'bridled' Guillemot, which has a white line of feathers outlining its eye and stretching back on its head like spectacles is not a separate species by a plumage form of the Common Guillemot.'

The guillemots are depicted in their breeding plumage, when their dark upper parts have short, smooth, velvety-brown feathers. In the background guillemots crowd on the rocky precipices where they incubate their large pear-shaped eggs.

'DISTRIBUTION: Holarctic, breeding on coastal cliffs and islands of north Palaearctic, western North America and eastern North America. Winters at sea mainly within southern limits of breeding range, South to New Jersey and northern Europe