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MORMON. PUFFIN. 



The Puffins, of which several species are known, though 

 only one of thcni belongs to our seas, are smaller than the 

 Razorbills or Guillemots, which they resemble in form and 

 structure, as well as in habits. They have the body ovate ; 

 the neck short and thick ; the head large, roundish, ante- 

 riorly compressed. 



Bill as long as the head, stout, vertically expanded, so 

 as to occupy at the base the whole height of the face, much 

 compressed, and obliquely furrowed on the sides ; upper 

 mandible with the dorsal line decurved, the ridge extremely 

 narrow, the sides nearly flat and erect, the edges sharp, the 

 tip small and deflected, the basal margin with a prominent 

 dotted rim ; lower mandible with the angle very narrow 

 and perpendicular, the dorsal line ascending, more or less 

 convex, the sides erect, the edges thin, the tip narrow and 

 blunt. 



Mouth of moderate width ; anterior palate flat, with five 

 prominent lines. Tongue slender, trigonal, pointed. (Eso- 

 phagus wide, much enlarged below ; stomach moderately 

 muscular, wdth a dense plicate epithelium ; intestine rather 

 long and wide, with moderate coeca. 



Nostrils basal, marginal, linear. Eyes rather small, 

 generally with small horny plates on the eyelids. Aperture 

 of ear very small. Legs very short, placed far behind ; tibia 

 with only a very small space bare ; tarsus stout, not much 

 compressed, anteriorly with small scutella ; no hind toe ; 

 anterior toes webbed, the inner much shorter than the 

 outer, which is nearly as long as the middle toe ; claws 

 of moderate length, arcuate, compressed, pointed, the inner 

 uncinate. 



