500 ALCIDA# 
discoloured. The young keep to their burrows until they 
are well fledged, when they flutter down and accompany 
their parents” out to sea. They run the chance of being 
seized by Falcons, and by the larger Gulls, especially if the 
burrows are not quite close to the. edge of the cliff. 
Before August is over, the cliffs are quite deserted and 
the birds may be seen scattered on the neighbouring seas. 
A distinct southerly move takes place in autumn! and after 
November, few birds, save stragglers, are seen off our 
coasts. 
The following localities accommodate large colonies :— 
In England; the Scilly Isles, Lundy Island, Flamborough 
Cliffs, and the Farne Islands. 
In Scotland; the large Western and Northern Groups, 
including St. Kilda. 
In Ireland; many of the islands off the wild western and 
southern shores, also Rathlin Island and Horn Head in the 
north, and the Saltees, and Lambay?’ on the east coast. 
Geographical distribution. — Though reaching higher 
latitudes than our Islands, yet the Puffin is a bird which 
resorts to Temperate and Sub-arctic regions in the breeding- 
season. Thus in Europe its range extends from the coast 
of France up the Channel Isles, northward to the Faroes, 
Iceland, and the Norway coast. Eastward it reaches 
Novaya Zemlya. In America it breeds in Greenland up 
to 70° N. lat. and along the east coast of Canada as far 
south as the Bay of Fundy, migrating in winter down to 
Massachusetts (Saunders). On its southern migration it 
is not uncommon in many European Seas including the 
Mediterranean, as far east as Sicily, but it chiefly Toaonte 
to the North Atlantic Ocean, down to lat. 40° N. 
DESCRIPTIYE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial.—Top of head, greyish- 
black ; forehead, dark grey; cheeks, chin, throat, and sides 
' Mr. Harvie-Brown cites that at Eilean Ghlais, countless numbers 
were observed travelling south during the first three days of August, 
1894 (Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1894, p. 224). 
* On June 17th, and again on July 22nd, 1900, I visited this Island 
and found a small colony breeding in rabbit-burrows on the slope of the 
cliffs. 
. 
se eae =" 
