PUFFIA'S. 



413 



in great multitudes to barren rocks, on the ledges of which, or in 

 a subterranean burrow, the female deposits a single egg. They 

 live chiefly on the water, where they are very expert, swimming 

 and diving with great rapidity. The shortness of their wings does 

 not admit of much power of flight. They feed on various kinds 

 of small fish, and whatever else they can procure near the surface 

 of the sea. 



Fig. 203. — The Puffin {Puffinus arcticus). 



The most familiar examples of this remarkable sub-family 

 are — 



The Puffins {Fratcrcold), well known on the northern coasts of our own 

 island. On a first glance at a puffin we cannot fail to be struck by the short and 

 inelegant contour of its figure, and by the strange shape and brilliant colour 

 of its beak, features which impart a singular aspect to the physiognomy of this 

 inhabitant of the ocean, where, however, as if to belie its round and awkward 

 appearance, it displays great agility and an arrow-like quickness of motion. Its 

 beak, deep, compressed, and pointed, with a sharp rigid keel above and below, 

 affords the beaic ideal of an instrument for cutting through the water, a cir- 

 cumstance the more necessary when considered in connection with a form of 

 body apparently ill adapted for diving. The plumage, moreover, of these birds 

 is thick, close, and smooth, so completely throwing off ever}' particle of water 

 as to render it impervious to wet. 



The puffin arrives on our coasts some time in April, but as it is not able 



