BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 305 



PUFFIN. 



\(Fratercula arc t lea.) 

 Order PYGOPODES ; Family ALCID^: (AUKS). 



Description of Parent Birds. 

 \ Length about twelve inches. Bill 

 /4m ift\ ra -ther short, and deeper than it 



/m Wi is long. Both mandibles are 



^P H arched from base to tip, the upper 



I one being a trifle hooked. It is 

 \^^fr m f such clumsy appearance as to 



Wl suggest a kind of sheath over the 

 real bill. It is much compressed 

 sideways, and furrowed trans- 

 versely. The basal ridge is yellow ; 



PUFFIN. J ri i i 



then occurs a space of bluish-grey, 

 followed by four ridges, and three grooves of a rich 

 orange colour. There is a space of naked skin 

 at the gape, which is yellow. Irides grey. Cheeks 

 and ear-coverts dirty white ; forehead, crown, 

 back of head, ring round neck, back, wings, and 

 tail, black. Breast, belly, and vent white. Legs, 

 toes, and webs orange ; claws black. 



The female has a slightly narrower bill. 



Situation and Locality. In burrows of varying 

 length, dug by the bird's own exertions, in peat 

 or mould, or taken from a rabbit by force; some- 

 times amongst fallen rocks or in crevices of cliffs. 

 Our full-page illustration is from a photograph taken 

 on the Fame Islands, where a large colony nests 

 yearly. I took the egg from the end of one of two 

 burrows having the same entrance, and placed it 

 in front so as to show in the picture. In walking 

 across the top of the island, which is covered by 



