PUFFIN. 



95 



It bad long been remarked, witbout any satisfactory ex- 

 planation being offered, tbat tbe old birds bad mucb smaller 

 bills in summer tban in winter. Owing to tbe investiga- 

 tions of Dr. Louis Bureau,* it is now establisbed tbat our 

 Puffin sbeds portions of its bill and tbe palpebral ornaments 

 in autumn, tbe borny frontal sbeatb scaling off in pieces 

 like plates of armour, and being accompanied by atropby 

 and loss of colour. Analogous cbanges bave subsequently 

 been observed in several of tbe Nortb Pacific species of tbe 

 family. 



Varieties, more or less piebald, are not very uncommon, 

 and nearly perfect albinos are occasionally met witb. 



* Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, 1877, pp. 377-399; of which an abridged 

 translation was published in 'The Zoologist,' 1878, p. 233. 



