A VES— PUFFIN. 



679 



The head and neck are velvet oiacs, with a white crescent immediately 

 under tne tnroa*., and another behind. The upper parts of the plumage are 

 also black, spotted with white, and the breast and belly perfectly white. 

 This bird is found in all the northern parts of Europe, and feeds on fish. It 

 breeds on the inaccessible rocks and steep cliffs in the Isle of Man, and 

 likewise in Cornwall, and several other places in England. The northern 

 diver lays exceedingly large eggs ; being full three inches long, blunt at one 

 end, and sharp at the other, of a sort of bluish color, generally spotted with 

 some black spots or strokes. It flies high and well. It is found on the 

 coast of the United States, where it is known by the name of the loon. 



THE PUFFIN 1 



*fe^ 



Is the size of the teal, weighs about twelve ounces, and is twelve inches in 

 length. The bill is much compressed : the half next the point is red, that 

 next the base is blue gray. It has three furrows or grooves impressed in it ; 

 one in the livid part, two in the red. The eyes are fenced with a protube- 

 rant skin, of a livid color ; and they are gray or ash colored. 



The puffin, like all the rest of this kind, has its legs thrown so far back, 

 that it can hardly move without tumbling. This makes it rise with diffi- 

 culty, and subject to many falls before it gets upon the wing; but as it is a 

 small bird, when it once rises, it can continue its flight with great celerity. 



All the winter these birds are absent, visiting regions too remote for 

 discovery. At the latter end of March, or the beginning of April, a troop of 

 their spies, or harbingers, come and stay two or three days, as it were, to 



1 Mormon fratercula, Temm. The genus Mormon has the bill shorter than the head, 

 deeper than long, and much compressed ; both mandibles arched transversely, furrowed, 

 and notched towards the tip ; ridge of the upper mandible elevated above the level of the 

 skull ; nostrils lateral, marginal, linear, naked, almost wholly concealed by a large naked 

 membrane ; legs short, placed fir behind, furnished with only three toes all directed 

 forwards, and webbed ; claws much hooked ; wings short. 



