334 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



PUFFINS. (PuFFiNus, Briss.) 



With the bill longer than the head, slender, hard, much com- 

 pressed at the point ; both mandibles much curved and acute at tip j 

 the upper seamed on each side, turgid at the point ; the lower some- 

 what shorter, angular beneath. Nostrils basal, opening in two 

 tubes. Feet moderate, stout, large ; naked space on the tibia exten- 

 sive ; tarsus equal to the middle toe : webs entire ; hind toe merely 

 a sharp nail. Wings long and acute ; 1st primary longest. Tail 

 rounded, of 12 feathers. 



The sexes alike in plumage ; and the young differing but little 

 from the adult. They moult twice a year without changing their 

 colors, which are usually more or less greyish. The species of 

 middling size. 



These birds, like the Stormy or Swallow-Petrels live almost wholly 

 out at sea, ranging far and wide without fear or danger ; they are 

 also capable of diving as well as swimming. They are continu- 

 ally wandering over the ocean, residing in the vicinity of shoals, 

 banks and breakers, but are rarely seen on shore except in the breed- 

 ing season, when they dig burrows, or nest in the clefts of rocks, 

 and during incubation are almost nocturnal in their habits, going 

 abroad only at twilight, or by day, in dark and cloudy weather. 

 They lay but one egg, and breed in companies. The young are at 

 first covered with long down. They feed almost wholly on fish, for 

 which they often dive into the waves. 



The species are spread all over the world. They are eminently 

 distinguished by their power of diving from the ordinary Petrels. 



CINEREOUS PUFFIN. 



(Puffinus cinereus, Cuvier. Bonap. Synops. No. 311. Procellaria 

 puffiniis, and P. cinerea, Lin. Lath. P. puffinus, Temm. Man. 

 d'Orn. ii. p. 805. Cinereous Petrel, Lath. Syn. vi. p. 405, Le 

 Puffin, Buff. PI. Enlum. 9G2. [young].) 



