PUFFIN 751 
were taken from the holes in which they were hatched, and 
“being exceeding fat,” as Carew wrote in 1602 (Survey of Cornwall, 
fol. 35), were “kept salted, and reputed for fish as coming neerest 
thereto in their taste.” In 1345, according to a document from 
which an extract is given in Heath’s Jslands of Scilly (p. 190) those 
islands were held of the crown at a yearly rent of 300 Puffins? or 
6s. 8d., being one-sixth of their estimated annual value. Some 
years later (1484), either through the birds having grown scarcer 
or money cheaper, only 50 Puffins are said (op. cit. p. 196) to have 
been demanded. It is stated by both Gesner and Caius that they 
were allowed to be eaten in Lent. Ligon, who in 1673 speaks 
(Hist. Barbadoes, p. 37) of the ill taste of Puffins ““which we have 
from the isles of Scilly,” and adds, “this kind of food is only for 
servants.” Puffins used to resort in vast numbers to certain stations 
on the coast, and are still plentiful on some,” reaching them in spring 
with remarkable punctuality on a certain day, which naturally varies 
with the locality, and after passing the summer there, leaving their 
homes with similar precision. They differ from most other Alcidx 
in laying their single egg (which is white, with a few grey markings, 
when first produced but speedily begrimed by the soil) in a shallow 
burrow, which they either dig for themselves or appropriate from 
a rabbit, for on many of their haunts rabbits have been introduced. 
Their plumage is of a glossy black above—the cheeks grey, en- 
circled by a black band—and pure white beneath ; their feet are of 
a bright reddish-orange, but the most remarkable feature of these 
birds, and one that gives them a very comical expression, is their 
huge bill. This is very deep and laterally flattened, so as, indeed, 
to resemble a coulter, as one of the bird’s common names expresses ; 
but moreover it is parti-coloured—blue, yellow and red—curiously 
grooved and still more curiously embossed in places, that is to say, 
during the breeding-season, when the birds are most frequently 
1 There can not be much doubt that the name Puffin given to these young 
birds, salted and dried, was applied on account of their downy clothing, for an 
English informant of Gesner’s described one to him (Hist. Aviwm, p. 110) as 
wanting true feathers, and being covered only with a sort of woolly black 
plumage. It is right, however, to state that Caius expressly declares (Rarior. 
animal. libellus, fol. 21) that the name is derived ‘‘a naturali voce pupin.” 
Prof. Skeat states that the word is a diminutive, which favours the view that it 
was originally used for these young birds. The parents were probably known by 
one or other of their many local names. 
2 In 1893 I took some trouble to make an estimate, though from the nature 
of the case a very rough one, of the number of Puffins which had their home in 
one locality among the Hebrides. The calculation worked out to be three miilions, 
and my friend Mr. Henry Evans, to whose kindness I was indebted for the 
opportunity of visiting the place, considered that number not to be excessive. 
In 1894 I was again at the same spot and was inclined to think that I had 
before underrated the number. 
