306 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



a soft layer of peat, the visitor feels the earth 

 giving way beneath his feet at each step, so 

 much is it honeycombed by the birds, which scuttle 

 out of their burrows in all directions. Breeds at 

 the Fame Islands, Flamborough Head, parts of the 

 south coast, Solly Isles, west coast of England, 

 Wales, Lundy, west coast of Scotland, Hebrides, 

 St. Kilda in vast numbers, the north of Scotland, 

 and in suitable places round the Irish coast. 



PUFFINS AT HOME. 



Materials. Occasionally a few bits of grass, 

 feathers, or roots ; often nothing whatever. 



Egg. One ; dull white or grey, marked with 

 a few indistinctly defined spots of pale brown and 

 grey, generally at the larger end. They soon 

 become soiled and dirty from contact with their 

 surroundings. Size about 2.4 by 1.67 in. (See 

 Plate XIII.) 



Time. May and June. 



Remarks. Migratory, arriving in April and de- 

 parting in August. More northern breeding birds 

 winter with us. Notes : o-r-r to a-r-r, according to 



