PUFFIN 499 
Often an interesting insight into Puftin family-life is 
gained by the observer who, taking a quiet walk on a day in 
June round the sharp bend of a sloping cliff honeycombed 
with rabbit-burrows, suddenly finds himself in the midst of 
a Puffin-colony, where hundreds of these little creatures are 
standing erect and gazing with their knowing little eyes, 
half grave, half comical in expression, astonishing him with 
their confidence and impudent demeanour. Odd-looking 
Auks indeed they are, and with what a curious mixture of 
facial expression! Their fat, bulging, and good humoured- 
looking cheeks offer a bold contrast to the gravity of 
countenance displayed in their great, aquiline, nose-like 
beak, while the dignity of this member's form is, in turn, 
sadly marred by the way in which Nature has embossed, 
grooved, and tattoed it in glaring colours. 
The usual attitude of this Auk when not alarmed is 
almost erect. The whole foot, including the heel, touches 
the ground, and though the bird is ‘standing’ in the true 
sense of the word, it 1s commonly described as ‘ sitting up.’ 
But directly it catches sight of the spectator, curiosity is 
aroused, and it raises itself on tiptoe, the position generally 
depicted in ‘ photographs from nature.’ he bird walks in 
a decidedly awkward and shuffling manner; the heels are 
barely raised off the ground, yet at each step the feet are 
sprawled far apart while the body waddles from side to side. 
On some headlands, the single egg is deposited on the 
ledge or crevice of a cliff. Rabbits are said to be dislodged 
from their rightful homes and may get bitten (and this the 
Puffin can do viciously with his formidable beak), should 
they resist eviction. 
Where rabbit-burrows are scarce, or the soil 1s hard and 
stony, the bird scrapes for itself a comparatively shallow 
hole: the nest 1s composed of dry grass and a few feathers. 
The egg, the shell of which is rough in texture, 1s at first 
greyish-white, finely spotted, sometimes even zoned with 
pale lilac and pale reddish-brown. . 
Incubation begins about the first week in May, and 
lasts a month, and during that time the shell becomes much 
1 This attitude is easily secured by the aid of a camera, but it is not 
really natural, expressing, as it does, a position of unusual attention 
rather than one of comfort and satisfaction. To photograph a Puffin in 
a perfectly natural attitude (as it may be seen from ambush) would be a 
much more difficult task. 
