LITTLE AUK.— PUFFIN. 293 



mentions two taken near Chichester, in the winter of 1858- 

 59, and another in December 1866. In the ' Zoologist ' 

 (p. 2070) Mr. Ellman mentions one obtained near Crawley, 

 in November 1850. 



The Little Auk feeds entirely on small Crustacea, and in 

 the breeding-season the mouth is often crowded with them 

 for feeding their young, the form of the bill not being 

 adapted for carrying small fish. 



PUFFIN. 



Fratercula arctica. 



The Puffin, Coulterneb, or Sea Parrot, having no breeding- 

 place on our coast, is not very frequently met with, and of 

 those which have occurred the greater part have been 

 washed up dead on the beach, after a heavy storm. A few 

 are, however^ occasionally seen far out in the Channel, as 

 might be expected, having probably strayed from the Isle of 

 Wight, where they have a breeding-station. The Puffin 

 often appropriates the burrow of a rabbit_, in which it lays 

 its single egg ; but more often these birds dig their holes for 

 themselves, and sometimes to a very considerable distance. 

 For this purpose they generally select a crumbling soil on a 

 grassy slope near or upon the top of a cliff. The bite of 

 the Puffin is said not to be so serious as from the form of 

 the bill might be expected; but I cannot agree in this 

 opinion, as I once brought one of these birds out of its hole, 

 fixed on the top of my finger, which it had bitten to the 

 bone, and I had to kill it before it would let go. Though it 

 was sixty years ago, I still bear the marks. 



They associate in large numbers at the breeding-places, 

 at which they arrive and whence they depart with most 



