540 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



the Puffin. Passing the day chiefly at sea, in the vicinity 

 of the rocks, into whose clefts, or the burrows they construct 

 for themselves, they retire at night ; these also are their resorts 

 for breeding, and different from others of this tribe, are said 

 to make a nest of marine weeds lined with feathers, in which 

 they deposit a single white egg in the latter end of May or 

 beginning of June. They are monogamous ; and are said 

 to bite fiercely when taken. Their food consists of small 

 Crustacea, crabs and shrimps, as well as shell-fish which 

 they force from the rocks with their powerful bills. 



The beautiful silky lateral tufts of feathers which orna- 

 ment the head of this bird are greatly esteemed by the rude 

 natives as an object of decoration. Their skins are em- 

 ployed by the inhabitants of Kamtschatka as an article 

 of clothing, for which they are fitted by seaming together. 

 The eggs are also commonly eaten, but the flesh is hard and 

 insipid. 



The Tufted Mormon, is about 19 inches in length; the bill 1| 

 inches, and the same in depth at the base, crossed with 3 furrows : its 

 colors a fine red, yellow, and corneous. Irids yellowish-brown. Fore- 

 head, sides of the head and chin, white. Over each eye arises a 

 tuft of feathers 4 inches or more in length, which falls elegantly on 

 each side of the neck, extending almost to the back ; these are white, 

 but buiF yellow towards their extremities. The rest of the plumage 

 is black, paler on the under parts, and inclining to cinereous. Tail 

 very short. Legs brownish-orange. The female is somewhat less, 

 and said to have only two furrows across the bill in place of three, 

 and the superciliary tuft is smaller. 



