Bird Characteristics Architecturally ioi 



sea, returning to feed their young only during the night 

 with the superabundant oily food from their stomachs. 

 The quantity of the oily matter is so considerable that in 

 the Faroe Isles they use petrels for candles, with no other 

 preparation than drawing a wick through the body ofthe 

 birds from the mouth to the rump. While nesting they 

 make a cluttering or croaking noise, similar to frogs, which 

 may be heard during the whole night on the shores of the 

 Bahamas and Bermuda Islands and on tlie coasts of Cuba 

 ard Florida, where they abound. 



Forster says they bury themselves by thousand? in holes 

 underground, where they rear their young aud lodge at 

 night, and in New Zealand the shores resound with the 

 noise similar to the clucking of hens or the croaking of 

 frogs, whicn they setid forth from their concealment. 



The eggs of the petrel are surprisingly laige considering 

 the diminutive size of the bird, being a«; fine as those of 

 the thrush. The female lays two eggs of a dirty or dingy- 

 white, encircled at the larger end by a ring of fine rust- 

 coloured freckles In many parts of the woild, notably 

 Juan Fernandez and similar Pacific islands, tney occupy 

 the rabbit burrows or scoop out similar eaith channels, 

 and in this *esp<. ct they imitate the sea-parrot oi puffin. 



The Puffin {Fratercula arctica) is one ofthe best known 

 excavators. It is remarkable for the singular form of its 

 bill, which exactly resembles two very shoit blades of a 

 knife applied one against the other by the edge, so as to 

 form a soit of triangle, but longer than it is broad and 

 channelled transversely with three or four little furrows 

 near the point. From the position of the feet, also, which 

 are thrown so far back that it stands almost uprignt, it has 

 more the air of a small kangaroo than of a bird. They 

 have this character in common with all the true diving 

 ducks. 



In the breeding season, numerous troops of them visit 

 several places on our coast, particularly the small island 

 of Priestholm, nea^ Anglesey, which might well be called 

 puffin-land, as the whole surface appears literally covered 

 with them. Soon after their arrival in May they prepare 

 for breeding, and it is said the male, contrary to the usual 



