102 Wiijd Birds and their Haunts 



economy of birds, undertakes the hardest part of the 

 labour He begins by scraping up a hole in the sand not 

 far from the shore, and, after having got to some depth, 

 he throws himself on his back, and, with his powerful bill 

 as a digger and his broad feet to remove the rubbish, he ex- 

 cavates a burrow with several windings and turnings from 

 eight to ten feet deep He prefers, when he can find a 

 stone, to dig under it, in order that his retreat may be 

 more securely fortified,, Whilst thus employed, the 

 birds are so intent upon their work that they are easily 

 caught by the hand. 



This bird, like others which burrow in similar localities, 

 is accused of dispossessing the rabbits, and even of killing 

 and devouring their 3^oung. But it would require more 

 authentic testimony than the majority of naturalists have 

 met with to convince one of this alleged lobbety, the only 

 apparent evidence being that they are found burrowing 

 along with rabbits in similar holes. We very commonly 

 find, in the same sandbank, numerous perforations 

 crowded into a small space, the work of various species of 

 solitary bees, side by side and intermingled with those of 

 Sand-wasps (Sphecidce) ; but no naturalist who has 

 accurately observed the proceedings of these insects would 

 conclude that they were mutual robbers, merely because 

 he observed them going in and out of contiguous holes. 



In some instances it is certain that the puffin must form 

 its own burrows. 



'' In one part of the island," (Akarce), says Professor 

 Hooker, ' ' where there is a considerable quantity of rich 

 loose mould, the puffins breeds in vast numbers, forming 

 holes three feet below the surface resembling rabbit 

 burrows, at the bottom of which they lay a single white 

 egg, about the size of that of the lapwing, upon the bare 

 earth. Our people dug out about twenty of these birds, 

 which they afterwards assured me made an excellent sea- 

 p : e." If the puffin, however, is really a robber of rabbit 

 burrows, it is too formidably armed to allow of retaliation 

 with impunity, and few birds or beasts venture to attack it 

 in its retreat. 



The Penguin (Aptenodytes patachonica) is still more like 



