204 AUK GROUP 



only one egg. Man)- of these nesting-holes are in cliffs iiundrcds of 

 feet above sea-level. Oval in shape and, although smooth, without 

 gloss, the eggs of the rotche are in general of a uniform greenish-blue 

 colour, although occasionally speckled with j-ellowish and more rarely 

 marked with streaks and small blotches at the large end ; this uniform 

 colouring being probably due to the fact of their being laid in con- 

 cealment. In length they measure from i£ inches to a fraction over 

 2 inches. 



Puffin or Sea- Two animals, one a mammal and the other a bird. 

 Parrot ( Fratereula ^^P^^^^^^y when mounted in museums, look as 

 aretica) though they were " fakes," and had been provided 



with beaks which do not properly belong to them. 

 The first of these is the curious duckbill, or platypus, of Australia, 

 and the second the puffin, or sea-parrot, of the North Atlantic and 

 adjacent portions of the Arctic Ocean. Puffins are represented by 

 five species, of which three are confined to the North Pacific ; it is 

 true indeed, that by some authorities the puffin found in Spitzbcrgen, 

 Novaia Zemlia, and Greenland, is regarded as a distinct species, on 

 account of its somewhat superior size and relatively larger beak, but 

 it seems best to class it as a variety of the ordinary puffin, possibly 

 entitled to rank as a separate race {F. aretica glacialis). All puffins — 

 both Atlantic and Pacific — may be recognised at a glance by the 

 peculiar shape and colouring of their deeply grooved and abnormally 

 large beaks, part of the horny sheath of which, as already mentioned, 

 is annually shed and renewed. In summer wattles are developed at 

 the root of the beak ; and the nostrils are at all seasons fully exposed 

 and surrounded only by the horn of the beak, being quite clear of the 

 feathering of the head. 



The Atlantic puffin in summer has the crown of the head, the 

 upper-parts generally, and a collar round the neck black ; the sides 

 of the head and a band across the nape are grey, and a streak of 

 greyish dun runs down each side of the neck ; elsewhere the plumage 

 is white. In striking contrast to this simple body-livery are the 

 orange of the legs and feet, the orange-red of the terminal half of the 

 beak, the carmine ring round the eye, the orange wattle-like structure 

 at the gape of the mouth, and the blue horny tubercle above and 

 below the eye ; the basal portion of the beak being slaty grey 

 bounded on each side with yellow. In winter the tubercles above 

 and below the eye and the basal portion of the beak-sheath are dis- 

 carded ; but there is no change in the colour of the plumage. Young 



