366 MORMON ARCTICUS. 



Male in Summer. — Our common Puffin is of a very com- 

 pact form, the body being ovate ; the neck short and very 

 thick ; the head large and roundish ; the feet, wings, and 

 tail, short. 



The bill is about the length of the head, vertically ex- 

 panded and compressed, so as when viewed laterally to present 

 a nearly triangular form ; its base occupying the whole height 

 of the face. Upper mandible having a prominent minutely 

 punctate rim along its basal margin, its dorsal outline decur- 

 vate from near the base, the ridge very narrow, but obtuse, 

 the sides nearly erect, flattened, and having, besides the basal 

 rim, three curved, obKque ridges, and three gi-oovcs, together 

 with a flat sub-basal space, the edges nearly straight, sharp, 

 the tip small and declinate. Lower mandible with the basal 

 outhne on each side inflexed beyond the perpendicular, the 

 dorsal outline slightly convex for half its length, then straight, 

 the sides erect, flat, with a large triangular space, and three 

 narrow ridges, the edges direct and sharp, a little dccurved at 

 the tip. The gape-line straight, extending a little beyond 

 the base of the mandibles, where its margins are fonned by a 

 corrugated extensile membrane. 



Eye rather small, with a narrow, sub-triangular, horny 

 body, directed upwards and backwards, on the upper, and 

 an oblong, horizontal body on the lower eyelid. Nostrils 

 linear, direct, four twelfths of an inch long, basal, marginal. 

 Tibia bare for a small extent ; tarsus very short, little com- 

 pressed, anteriorly with short scutella, excepting the upper 

 third, the sides reticulated. Toes of moderate length, scutcl- 

 late, coiniected by entire webs, the middle toe longest, the 

 outer slightly, the inner much shorter. Claws of moderate 

 length, strong, the inner hooked, the rest slightly arched. 



Plumage dense, firm, soft, very short on the head. Wings 

 short, narrow, incurvate, pointed ; the first quill shghtly 

 shorter than the second. Tail very short, slightly rounded, 

 of sixteen soft, obtuse feathers. 



The basal rim and first ridge of the upper mandible are 

 dull yellow, the intervening triangular s})ace greyish-blue ; 

 the basal margin of the lower bright red ; the first ridge and 

 the intervening space as in the upper ; the rest bright car- 



