278 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



grows rapidly, and a little later has greyer down (Plate 125), 

 and its legs show a pinkish tinge ; it is active, runs well, and 

 quickly bolts into its burrow if placed near the entrance. It 

 has a piping note when handled, or when the old bird arrives 

 with its beak full of fishes, neatly arranged in a row. 



The adult Puffin has the upper parts and a collar greyish 

 black, darkest on the back ; the under parts are white. The 

 cheeks and throat are delicately shaded with art grey. At the 

 base of the upper mandible is a pale-yellow raised rim, on the 

 lower a narrower vermilion line ; the basal portion of the beak is 

 blue-grey, the outer portion orange and vermilion, more or less in 

 transverse streaks ; at the angle of the gape is a rosette of 

 orange skin. The legs are orange, the irides pale brown. 

 Some birds have vermilion, others lemon-yellow legs ; indeed, 

 the colours of beak and legs show considerable variation. In 

 winter the raised rim, most of the outer covering of the bill, the 

 rosette at the gape, and the decorations above and below the 

 eye are shed ; the bill becomes smaller and less brilliant. It is 

 frequently stated that the cheeks are greyer in winter, but this 

 may be due to age, for the young bird not only has the cheeks 

 darker, but in front of the eye is a blackish patch ; the bill in 

 the young is at first short and more conical. Length, 13 ins. 

 Wing, 7 ins. Tarsus, i in. 



Order PROCELLARI I FORMES. Petrels 



and Shearwaters. 



Family THALASSIDROMID^. 



Small, long-winged, web-footed birds ; bill short, hooked, 

 nostrils in one double tube. 



