BRITISH BIRDS 9 NESTS. 217 



PUFFIN. 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about 

 twelve inches. Bill rather short, and deeper than 

 it is long. Both mandibles are arched from base 

 to tip, the upper one being a trifle hooked. It 

 is of such clumsy appearance as to suggest a 

 kind of sheath over the real bill. It is much 

 compressed sideways, and farrowed transversely. 

 The basal ridge is yellow ; 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 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 

 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, Scilly Isles, west coast of England, 

 Wales, Lundy, west coast of Scotland, Hebrides, 



