THE AUKS 



2309 



Puffins 



single horn-like knob above the nostrils, which is shed in winter. All these birds 

 have much the same habits as the more typical auks, generally frequenting sheltered 

 bays when the weather is rough. The horn-billed auk breeds as far south as Cali- 

 fornia and Northern Japan. 



Among the most grotesque of all birds are the puffins, or sea par- 

 rots, whose enormous, compressed, and brilliantly -colored beaks seem 

 out of all proportion to the size of their heads. Represented only by the common 

 Arctic puffin (Fratercula arctica) in the Atlantic, the genus attains a greater de- 

 velopment in that headquarters of the Auk family, the Northern Pacific, where we 

 meet with the horned puffin (F. corniculata} , characterized by the great develop- 

 ment of the horny process arising 

 from the upper eyelid, and the hand- 

 some whiskered puffin (F. cirrhata], 

 distinguished by the pendent crest 

 of feathers at the back of the head, 

 and the absence of grooves on the 

 lower mandible. As a group, the 

 puffins are distinguished from all 

 the other members of the family 

 by the claw of the second toe being 

 considerably longer and more curved 

 than the other two, as well as by the 

 presence of a rosette-like prominence 

 at the angle of the mouth. They 

 are further characterized by the cir- 

 cumstance that the feathers at the 

 base of the beak stop short of the 

 nostrils, and likewise by the pecul- 

 iarity that the basal portion of the 

 greatly compressed beak is furnished 

 during the breeding season with one 

 or more sheath-like, deciduous pieces 

 of an orange-red color which are shed 

 in winter. The much compressed 

 beak is shorter than the head, and COMMON PUFFIN. 



considerably deeper than long, with 



the profile of both mandibles strongly arched, and the ridge of the upper one form- 

 ing a sharp edge, while there are oblique transverse grooves on one or both mandi- 

 bles. The common puffin may be compared in size to a teal, the average length 

 in the southern portion of its habitat being about twelve inches, although in the 

 Arctic regions it attains somewhat larger dimensions, and has the beak deeper. 

 Resembling the guillemot in general coloration, it differs in undergoing no seasonal 

 change of plumage, and in the white area occupying the whole of the sides of the 

 head, while the throat is encircled by a dark gorget. The beak has its terminal 

 portion carmine red, behind which are bands of slaty gray and yellow, with a red 



