ARCTIC PUFFIN. 371 



account of its habits, part of whicli, referring more especially 

 to its breeding, it may be proper to present. There is on 

 the coast of Labrador a small island, " known to all the 

 cod-fishers, and celebrated for the number of Puffins that 

 annually breed there. As we rowed towards it, although 

 we found the w^ater literally covered with thousands of these 

 birds, the number that flew over and around the green 

 island seemed much greater, insomuch that one might have 

 imagined half the Puffins in the world had assembled there. 

 This far-famed isle is of considerable extent, its shores are 

 guarded by numberless blocks of rocks, and within a few 

 yards of it the water is several fathoms in depth. The 

 ground rises in the form of an amphitheatre to the height of 

 about seventy feet, the greatest length being from north to 

 south, and its southern extremity fronting the Streight of 

 Belleisle. For every burrow in the island previously visited 

 by us there seemed to be a hundred here ; on every crag or 

 stone stood a Puffin ; at the entrance of each hole another ; 

 and yet the sea was covered and the air filled by them. I 

 had two double-barrelled guns and tAVO sailors to assist me, 

 and I shot for one hour by my watch, always firing at a 

 single bird on wing. How many Puffins I killed in that 

 time I take the liberty of leaving you to guess. (Naughty 

 John ! Have I not heard you say, " I hate to see birds shot 

 when breeding ;" to which the very apt reply was made, 

 " By any person but yourself." See vol. ii. p. 466. But, 

 however — ) The burrows were all inhabited by young 

 birds, of different ages and sizes ; and clouds of Puffins flew 

 over our heads, each individual holding a ' lint ' by the head. 

 This fish, which measures four or five inches in length, and 

 is of a very slender form, with a beautiful silvery hue, 

 existed in vast shoals in the deep water around the island. 

 The speed with which the birds flew made the fish incline 

 by the side of their neck. While flying the Puffins emitted 

 a loud croaking noise, but they never dropped the fish ; and 

 many of them, when brought down by a shot, still held their 

 prey fast. I observed with concern the extraordinary affec- 

 tion manifested by these birds towards each other ; for, 

 whenever one fell dead or wounded on the water, its mate 



