BIRDS OF THE SEASHORE 103 



where it catches fish. Its flight is like the diving Ducks', 

 and, like them, it also flies in line. 



Food. Fish and Crustacea. 



Nest. May. One brood. 



Site. In some cranny in the sea-cliffs, or under a rock. 



Materials. None . 



Eggs. One. Very variable, but less pyriform than 

 the Guillemot's, and seldom with any green colouring. 

 Usually whitish or pale brown, blotched and spotted with 

 rich dark reddish brown and black. 



PUFFIN (Fratercula arctica). 



It breeds in immense numbers at various stations all 

 round our coasts, notably in the northern and western 

 isles of Scotland, Bass Rock, Flamborough Head, Fame 

 Islands, Isle of Wight, Dorset, Devon, and Cornish 

 coasts, Scilly Islands, Channel Islands, Lundy Island, 

 on Welsh and Irish coasts, Anglesea, Isle of Man, &c. 



Plumage. Sides of face white. Head, collar and upper 

 parts black. Under parts white. Eyelid orange-red ; 

 above and below the eye bluish grey areas. Bill blue at 

 base, yellow in the middle, and red at the tip, and adze- 

 shaped. Legs and feet orange-red. Length 12 in. 

 Female similar. In winter the bill is smaller and duller. 

 Young : face and sides of head dusky grey ; patch of 

 sooty black in front of eye ; young in down, blackish 

 brown. 



Language. Usually very silent. It emits a grating 

 kind of noise, like " a-r-r." 



Habits. Perhaps our most grotesque bird, with its 

 multi-coloured, toucan-like, and ill-proportioned bill, 

 its plump, compact body, and short legs. Eminently 

 sociable in the breeding season, its nesting holes literally 

 riddling the soft, peaty earth that it usually frequents. 

 On land it waddles awkwardly. It flies rapidly with 

 quickly agitated wings, and swims and dives well. When 



