ia 
566 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
the principal; yet this is not invariable, and it cannot be 
depended upon as a sure means of identification. 
MORMON, IxticEr. 
Mormon, Iuu1GER, Prod. (1811), 283. 
General form short and heavy, and adapted to swimming and diving with great 
facility, and to limited power of flight; bill short, entirely horny, much flattened 
laterally, and nearly as high as long; measured on the side obliquely rugose and 
laminated; a portion at the base punctulated; nostril in the edge of and in the 
second lamina of the upper mandible; wing moderate or rather weak, first quill 
usually longest; tail short; legs short; toes, three only, directed forwards, rather 
long, fully webbed; claws large, curved; plumage very compact. 
MORMON ARCTICA. — Illiger. 
The Puffin. 
Alca arctica, Linneus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 211. 
Mormon arctica, Wiger. Prod. (1811). Aud. Orn. Biog., III. 105. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Smaller than either of the preceding, but much resembling the two last species 
in form and color; a short, blunt process over each eye, and a narrow transverse 
process under it; bill much flattened laterally, horny; upper mandible composed of 
two parts, that at the base narrow, and covered with minute spots or granulations, 
terminal part with about four curved ridges at its base, and two or three curved 
descending grooves near the end; under mandible smooth at base, and with about 
three grooves near its end; wing rather short and weak; tail short; legs and feet 
strong; throat black, uniting with the same color of the upper parts of the body; 
large space on each side of the head and entire under parts, from the throat, white, 
frequently tinged with ashy about the eyes; entire upper parts (and throat) brown- 
ish-black, darker, and frequently clear black on the back; head above frequently 
dark-ashy, separated by a well-defined line from the black of the other upper parts; 
bill and feet orange-yellow; sides, under the wings, ashy-black; iris light-blue. 
Total length, about twelve and a half inches; wing, seven and a half; tail, two 
and three-quarters inches. 
This bird is not uncommon on the coast of northern New 
England as a winter visitor, and a few breed on the islands 
about Grand Menan. The nest is placed in a burrow in the 
earth, dug by the birds. ‘“ In all the burrows that commu- 
nicate with each other, a round place is scooped out on one 
side of the avenue in the form of an oven; while, in those 
which are single, this ovenlike place is found at the end. 
All the passages are flattish above and rounded beneath, as 
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