THE TUFTED PUFFIN 
BY WILLIAM LEON DAWSON 
To those who have been fortunate enough to visit some romantic 
isle off the North Pacific shore these quaint fowls make an irresistible 
appeal of interest. Sea-parrots and Jew ducks, the sailors call 
them; and we should all be inclined to poke fun at them for their 
outlandish head-gear if their behavior were not so dignified. For my 
own part, I confess a positive affection for these droll Quakers. 
It is difficult to exaggerate the gravity of these tranquil birds, 
always absolutely silent, save that, when caught and harassed, they 
may emit a low, hoarse groan. They spend much time standing 
demurely at the entrances of their burrows, their little plumes, nod¬ 
ding like tassels on so many caps. 
Puffins, like other species of the auk family, spend the winter 
upon the ocean, and are seen near land only when the buffeting of 
some storm of unusual severity strews the sand with bodies of dead 
and wounded. As spring advances, and the new summer coat of 
plumage grows out, these birds acquire an extraordinary array of 
ornaments and appendages. Males and females alike receive, in 
place of dull black feathers, a white facial mask; and this is prolonged 
behind from each side into long, waving feather-horns of a rich, 
deep straw-color. The eyelid becomes a brilliant red; and the great 
red beak, always stout and strongly compressed, is further enlarged 
at the base by a new set of horny plates of a dull oil-green or delicate 
horn-color, which exactly matches the eyes in tint. The feet also 
become bright vermilion, instead of a pale salmon. 
A puffin’s bill is so remarkable a creation that a glance at its 
structure may not be out of place; yet as to the necessity of this 
powerful crushing organ we are ignorant. The bird is not a shallow- 
water feeder, and so has no need to break bivalved shells to pieces. 
Moreover, in the breeding-season it seems to subsist upon small 
fish, which are as easily taken by the slender-billed murre. We 
do know that the puffin’s queer bill is wonderfully composed of 
eighteen plates (with underlying membranes), and that of these six¬ 
teen, including “rosettes, lamellae and selvedges,” but chiefly the 
olive-green basal plates, fall away at the end of the breeding-season. 
Their place is taken partly by underlying feathered tracts, and partly 
by an underlying horny plate colored deep brown; and the breadth 
of the bill is much reduced. At the same time the white facial mask 
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