PUFFIN. 729 



the coast in winter. In the spring it approaches nearer to 

 the shore, and during the prevalence of sea-storm . many 

 are driven by stress of weather on to the beach in a starved 

 and dying condition. I have seen individuals on the sands 

 both in winter and spring, though very seldom during the 

 former season ; in November 1878 several were picked up, 

 and in the following March, during stormy weather, upwards 

 of thirty were taken to a local bird-stuffer. In April and 

 May 1887 numbers were found dead ; one on the I4th of the 

 latter month had not resumed the horny plates on the bill 

 indicative of the breeding garb ; in February 1890 many 

 perished of starvation, while in April 1891 I noticed winter- 

 plumaged birds. 



Occasionally the Puffin strays up the Humber in autumn 

 and winter, but I have not observed it in the Tees estuary. In 

 various inland localities, remote from tidal waters, stragglers, 

 probably storm- driven, have been reported ; amongst the places 

 where it has been noted being Thirsk, Wetherby, Pocklington, 

 Ackworth, Skelmanthorpe, Barnsley, Penistone, and at Ardsley 

 one was killed against the telegraph wires in 1871. 



White and pied varieties are not unknown in Yorkshire. 

 One almost entirely white, except for a few cinnamon-coloured 

 feathers on the back, was found at Marske, and is now in the 

 collection of Mr. E. B. Emerson of Tollesby Hall. A pure 

 white specimen, and also a white one with normal wings, 

 both obtained at Flamborough, are in the possession of Mr. 

 J. Whitaker of Rain worth Lodge. Another white bird was 

 reported at Bempton in 1902, and Mr. A. S. Hutchinson of 

 Derby informs me he had one, sent from Scarborough in 1896, 

 which had only one or two black feathers on the back, all 

 the rest of the plumage being white. 



Its local names are not numerous ; the term Mullet was 

 stated by Willughby to be applied to it at Scarborough ; it 

 is generally known as Parrot or Sea Parrot ; Flamborough 

 Head Pilot is applied to it in the district indicated by this 

 name, and Tommy Noddy was mentioned by J. Hogg to 

 have been in use in the Teesmouth area in 1845, though I 

 have never heard it. 



