guillemot

Any of several diving seabirds belonging to the auk family that breed on rocky North Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The common guillemot (U. aalge) has a long straight beak and short tail and wings; the feet are three-toed and webbed, the feathers are sooty brown and white. It breeds in large colonies on sea cliffs. The black guillemot (C. grylle) of northern coasts is much smaller and mostly black in summer, with orange legs when breeding. Guillemots build no nest, but lay one large, almost conical egg. (Genera Uria and Cepphus, family Alcidae, order Charadriiformes.)