286 SEA-BIRDS 



of the adult puffin or petrel towards its chick) . The incident ends in 

 the youngster swimming close to the adult which most persistently 

 answers its calls, and it is led away to sea. Usually only one adult 

 retains possession of the fledgeling in the open sea, but we do not 

 know whether this is the male or female, though it is generally presumed 

 to be the mother of the chick that takes on the duty. Nor do we know 

 the sex of the two adults which sometimes accompany a chick; this 

 is a matter for detailed observation by marking. For all we know 

 the loving adults may both be female, one the mother of the chick, 

 and the other a foster mother who, having lost her egg or chick earlier 

 in the season, has adopted the chick and, having fed it often, has 

 become attached to it by voice-recognition. 



Convoying of the young bird at sea is recorded for the common 

 and Brlinnich's guillemots, the black guillemot and the razorbill. 

 The chicks of the black guillemot and the little auk, both born in 

 crevices in the rocks, do not leave the nest until they are full grown 

 and in complete juvenile plumage. Before leaving there is much 

 exercising of the wings. The adults attend the departure from the rocks. 

 Winn (1950) found that in one case, at 8.30 p.m. on 12 August 1947, 

 a black guillemot parent enticed the 40-day-old chick from the nesting 

 crevice by dangling a live rock-eel before it. The chick was drawn to 

 the water and the open sea in this way. 



The little auk often nests on cliffs far inland, and the young bird 

 has to face a longer flight to the sea. According to W. E. Ekblaw 

 (A. C. Bent, 191 9) it is accompanied on its first flight by the adults, 

 which do not, however, assist it otherwise. It flies quite well immedi- 

 ately, though its progress is naturally slower than that of the adult, 

 and occasionally a few fall by the way, and these may become the 

 prey of the prowling arctic foxes. 



Very diflerent is the story of the puffin at fledging time. For a 

 long time the imaginative accounts of early observers seemed to prove 

 that the adults tenaciously cared for the young throughout their 

 existence on land. Thus, writing of the Atlantic puffin, C. W. Townsend 

 (Bent, 1919) states that "when the young are 4 to 5 weeks old they are 

 able to leave their burrows and follow their mothers to the sea." 

 Of the horned puffin [Fratercula corniculata) , L. AlcS. Turner writes that 

 "the old bird catches the young one by the wing and they flutter at a 

 long angle to the water. The old bird endeavours to keep under the 

 young one. I have seen them drop their young accidentally and cause 

 great consternation of the parent, which could not check her flight 



