THE AUKS 277 



egg-laying site, and, like puffins copulating on the water, beat their 

 wings to steady themselves as they rest far back on the back of the 

 female. Little auks have a whining chatter, puffins a somewhat 

 rare sighing double note, an inspiratory gasp, followed by an expiratory 

 yawning note. 



The puffin is the only Atlantic auk which is active in preparing a 

 home. As it breeds under the ground it must and does dig efficiently, 

 using its bill as a pickaxe and its webbed feet as shovels to fling the 

 earth backwards — it will excavate a burrow even in soft sandstone, 

 as at Skokholm. The other auks adopt ready-made sites. A razorbill 

 may pluck and play with a piece of grass, but there is no attempt to 

 use it for lining the bare spot in which the egg is laid. Some black 

 guillemots will carry feathers, bones, shells, stalks and debris to the 

 nesting crevice. Plucking, picking up, and toying with grass, seaweed, 

 and feathers is a displacement activity. The puffin may transport 

 these materials into its burrow and drop them in the nest at the far 

 end. It may just as often drop them outside the burrow or in the pas- 

 sage, or even drop them before reaching the entrance. We have 

 watched the puffin pluck furiously at a tuft of grass or herbage until 

 it has accumulated an immense beak load, larger than its own head. 

 This it has held in its bill for perhaps five or ten minutes, as if pleased 

 and proud of its efforts. A puffin so burdened with material is an object 

 of special curiosity to other puffins. They will approach, with their 

 mincing steps, and even presume to snatch the material from the owner, 

 who shows anxiety to avoid being robbed, and backs or runs away 

 with it. A large feather is a much coveted object; its possession may 

 be disputed in a tug-of-war, and it may pass from one to another of 

 the assembled puffins before it is blown away or carried into a burrow. 

 But in spite of this activity and play with nesting material little is 

 finally deposited in the nest at the end of the burrow. Indeed the Ggg 

 is often found with no nest lining around it. 



The ringing of puffins by Lockley (1953) has shown that the male 

 remains attached to the same female during the season (at least while 

 on land), and takes a minor part in the incubation of the egg. As 

 long as he is on land the male shares in all the activities, including that 

 of spring-cleaning the burrow in April (or driving a new shaft where 

 the old burrow has fallen in or become damaged during the winter) . 

 Puffins may excavate and clean out passages throughout the season; 

 the tremendous burrowing capacity of a large colony may undermine 

 the earthy slope of a whole cliff side, causing it to slide into the sea 



