94 ALCID^. 



abundantly on the coast of Greenland up to 70° N. lat. 

 Southwards our form breeds on the Atlantic coast of America 

 down to the Bay of Fundy, migrating in winter as far as 

 Massachusetts. Eeturning to Europe : we find the Puffin 

 breeding on many of the small islands in the Channel group, 

 and on the coast of France, especially off Brittany. From 

 observing large numbers in the vicinity of the rocky Ber- 

 lengas Islands, near the mouth of the Tagus, on the 8th of 

 June, 1868, the Editor suspected that they bred there, and 

 this has since been proved to be the case. In the Mediter- 

 ranean, as far east as Sicily, the Puffin is not uncommon in 

 winter ; and as it has been obtained as late as the 27th of 

 May, it is possible some may breed on the smaller islands of 

 that sea. In the North Pacific this species is replaced by 

 Fratercula corniculata, which has a horny growth on the 

 upper eyelid, and the black band of the throat extends to the 

 base of the bill. 



In the Puffin, in summer, the basal ridge of the beak is 

 yellow, the space in advance of the base bluish-grey, with 

 three grooves and four ridges of orange ; the naked skin at 

 the gape yellow ; the irides grey, eyelids orange ; lore, chin, 

 cheeks, and ear-coverts white ; forehead, crown, occiput, a 

 collar round the neck, all the back, wings, and tail, black, 

 the wing-primaries rather the lightest in colour; all the 

 under surface of the body white ; legs, toes, and their mem- 

 branes orange. The female has a somewhat smaller bill than 

 the male. In size there is considerable variation between 

 specimens from the south and those from the far north. 

 The average length of those from Great Britain is twelve 

 inches, and of the wing six inches ; but in Spitsbergen 

 examples the wing is sometimes seven inches in length, the 

 bill being of proportionately large dimensions, and there 

 appear to be gradations between the two extremes. 



The young bird differs from the adult in having the bill 

 smaller and not so high, the sides of the head are deeper 

 grey, and the space in front of the eye is sooty-black. In 

 some cases the dark face is still retained when the bird 

 begins to breed in its third year. 



