GUILLEMOTS, RAZORBILL, ETC. 147 
localities it not only arrives punctually on a certain 
day, but retires from them in autumn with its young 
almost as regularly! In some places Puffins arrive 
on the land to breed as early as March; in others, 
not before April; in others, yet again, not before 
the beginning of May. With the exception of 
the south and east coasts of England—where it is 
only sparingly and locally distributed—the Puffin, 
from Flamborough northwards, is widely and 
generally dispersed. In some places its numbers 
are almost incredible, as for instance, at Lundy 
Island, the Farne Islands, on some of the Hebrides, 
and St. Kilda. There is a very interesting colony 
of Puffins established amongst the walls of the 
ancient fortress on the Bass Rock, but so far as 
my experience goes the colony on St. Kilda stands 
unrivalled, and, at a very moderate computation, 
must consist of many millions of birds! The 
Puffin most probably pairs for life, and returns time 
out of mind to certain familiar spots to rear its 
offspring. In most places the bird makes its scanty 
nest in a burrow which it excavates itself, but in 
some localities rabbit holes are frequently made 
‘use of. In some localities, however, the bird 
makes a nest in a crevice of the cliffs or beneath 
heaps of rocks. By the end of April both birds 
are engaged in scraping out this burrow, if cir- 
cumstances demand it, which often extends for 
several yards in the loamy soil, sometimes sloping 
downwards, sometimes tortuous, sometimes nearly 
