FRATERCULIN.t:. 



707 



THE PUFFIN. 



Fratercula arctica (Lintic^us). 



The Puffin is the representative in the Atlantic of the well- 

 marked sub-family FratercuHnce, whose other members are confined 

 to the North Pacific, the head-quarters of the AIcce. Even in 

 winter it is seldom altogether absent from British waters ; while 

 from the end of March to early in April or May — according to 

 latitude — it begins to return to its breeding-places, which it leaves 

 with great regularity in the latter part of August. At the present 

 day comparatively few nest in the Isle of Wight, or on the mainland 

 of Dorsetshire, Devon and Cornwall ; but numbers breed in the 

 Scilly Islands, and myriads burrow in the slopes of Lundy Island, 

 which consequently received its name (Junde puffin, ey island) from 

 the Scandinavian rovers who formerly resided there. Many haunts 

 exist in Wales, as well as a few in the Isle of Man ; but the Flam- 

 borough range of cliffs, and some of the Fame Islands, are the only 

 resorts known on the east side of England. In Scotland large 

 colonies are very plentiful, and the swarms of birds going and 

 coming round many of the islands in the Hebrides, especially St. 

 Kilda, make the horizon seem quite hazy ; while the same may be 



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