OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSniEE IN" 1882. 213 



picked Tip not far from that town and was brought to him by 

 the tindor. " The little tern formerly nested i)lcntifully on the 

 Lincolnshire and Yorkshire coast, and still nests, but in greatly 

 reduced numbers, at Spurn, where (]uito recently I found thirteen 

 nests within a short distance of each other in slight hollows of the 

 bare shingle, twelve of which contained the full complement of 

 three eggs. It arrives at Spurn in May, about the middle of the 

 miiiith, leaving again in September, a few lingering as late as the 

 middle of October." 



10. The Little Auk {Mergnlm alU). — A little auk was picked 

 np alive near Langley, about five miles from Hitchin. It was an 

 old bird, and lived for some days after its capture. It is reported 

 by Mr. William Hill, jun., of Hitchin. "The little auk is a 

 winter visitant to the coasts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and at 

 this season may be often found in large numbers at sea off the east 

 coast. In long- continued storms they approach the coast, even 

 entering our tidal rivers and estuaries — not unfrequently solitary 

 examples occurring far inland in a perfectly exhausted condition, 

 driven in by stress of weather." 



11. The Puffin {Fratercula arctica). — Mr. Henry Manser informs 

 me that a puffin was caught alive about the middle of April, at 

 Broxbourne, near Hoddesdon. It died a few hours after being 

 caught. Two other occurrences of the same bird are reported by 

 Mr. William Hill, jun. In the month of March a young puffin 

 was picked i;p alive, but exhausted, at Pirton, near Hitchin; a 

 second, also a young bird, was picked up at Preston, near the same 

 town. It is worthy of remark that the bird secured at Pirton 

 found its way inland during the fine weather that prevailed in 

 March. "Puffins are the latest of our sea-fowl to arrive at their 

 nesting haunts at Flamborough, which they do early in May, leaving 

 again in August. The single egg is placed at the bottom of a deep 

 hole or fissure in the cliffs, and the young, unlike those of the guille- 

 mot, remain on the ledge until they can fly down unassisted by the 

 parent-birds. Often several puffins are found in the same hole, 

 and both the male and female assist in incubation. When the young 

 are hatched, the old birds feed them on sand-eels, and may constantly 

 be seen coming in from the sea and flying up to the cliffs, with 

 numbers of these bright silvery little fish dangling, beard-like, from 

 the sides of their huge beaks. In September and October they 

 may be found in large numbers far out at sea, moving gradually to 

 the south, and they are rarely seen again off the coast till their 

 return in the spring. After the autumn moult the beak of the 

 puffin assumes quite a different character, and is neither of the same 

 size, shape, or colour as in the breeding-season ; nor are the pieces 

 of which it is composed the same. It has been clearly proved by 

 Dr. Louis Barran that this remarkable change is brought about 

 by a regular moult or scaling off of the plates as well as the 

 palpebral appendages. Like the guillemot the puffin does not 

 breed till the third summer." 



12. The Coiiiiox Guillemot {Alee troile). — A common guillemot 



