Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad": Volume 12, Slice 6Various
Science
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad": Volume 12, Slice 6
Various
Encyclopedias and dictionaries
The habits of
all these are essentially the same, and the structural resemblance
between all of them and the Auks is so great that several systematists
have relegated them to the genus _Alca_, confining the genus _Uria_ to
the guillemots of another group, of which the type is the _U. grylla_,
the black guillemot of British authors, the dovekey or Greenland dove of
sailors, the tysty of Shetlanders. This bird assumes in summer an
entirely black plumage with the exception of a white patch on each wing,
while in winter it is beautifully marbled with white and black. Allied
to it as species or geographical races are the _U. mandti_, _U. columba_
and _U. carbo_. All these differ from the larger guillemots by laying
two or three eggs, which are generally placed in some secure niche,
while the members of the other group lay but a single egg, which is
invariably exposed on a bare ledge. (A. N.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The word, however, seems to be cognate with or derived from the
Welsh and Manx _Guillem_, or _Gwilym_ as Pennant spells it. The
association may have no real meaning, but one cannot help comparing
the resemblance between the French _guillemot_ and _Guillaume_ with
that between the English willock (another name for the bird) and
William.
GUILLOCHE, a French word for an ornament, either painted or carved,
which was one of the principal decorative bands employed by the Greeks
in their temples or on their vases. Guilloches are single, double or
triple; they consist of a series of circles equidistant one from the
other and enclosed in a band which winds round them and interlaces. This
guilloche is of Asiatic origin and was largely employed in the
decoration of the Assyrian palaces, where it was probably copied from
Chaldaean work, as there is an early example at Erech which dates from
the time of Gudea (2294 B.C.). The ornament as painted by the Greeks has
almost entirely disappeared, but traces are found in the temple of
Nemesis at Rhamnus; and on the terra-cotta slabs by which the timber
roofs of Greek temples were protected, it is painted in colours which
are almost as brilliant as when first produced, those of the Treasury of
Gela at Olympia being of great beauty. These examples are double
guilloches, with two rows of circles, each with an independent
interlacing band and united by a small arc with palmette inside; in both
the single and double guilloches of Greek work there is a flower in the
centre of the circles. In the triple guilloche, the centre row of
circles comes half-way between the others, and the enclosing band
crosses diagonally both ways, interlacing alternately. The best example
of the triple guilloche is that which is carved on the torus moulding of
the base and on the small convex moulding above the echinus of the
capitals of the columns of the Erechtheum at Athens. It was largely
employed in Roman work, and the single guilloche is found almost
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