48 THE AUKS 



in their love-displays. 1 The species also walks on the toes with a 

 springing active movement. 



The puffin is a comparatively silent species, and is often content 

 merely to open and close its particoloured beak, leaving the sound 

 to be taken for granted a praiseworthy economy of energy, having 

 regard to the unmusical character of its utterances. These have been 

 described as a long-drawn, very grating " owk " or " ow" and a long- 

 drawn " oooo," something like the nocturnal call of a cat. 2 What mean- 

 ings are to be attached to each have yet to be precisely determined. 

 The young bird, when handled, utters a piping note syllabled 

 as "yerp" 3 



Of all places for its nest-hole the puffin prefers the earth-clad 

 tops or sides of isles or cliffs. At the Fames, in the Longstone group, 

 for instance, it occupies the upper surface of one of the islands, 

 leaving the bare tops of the adjacent rocky stacks, known as the 

 Pinnacles, and the ledges on the steep sides of the island, to the 

 razorbills, guillemots, and kittiwakes. Similarly, the huge colony at 

 Mingulay in the Outer Hebrides nests in the earth on top of the 

 stack of Lianamull, beneath a dense crop of seeding sorrel, which 

 later on becomes, however, one sticky compound of mud, dung, 

 feathers, rotten eggs, and dead birds, ankle deep or deeper. 4 Another 

 nesting-place, on one of the low-lying Scilly Isles, is shown on Plate 

 XLI. The nest is also to be found in the holes or crevices in 

 cliffs, or under loose stones or boulders. A photograph of the latter, 

 taken at one of the North Fames, is shown on the Plate above 

 mentioned. 



The holes in the earth may either be made by the puffin itself or 

 be that of a rabbit. If the latter is in occupation of a hole that the 

 puffin has set its heart upon, there is a forcible eviction. The young 



1 This view is corroborated by Mr. C. J. King, who in the course of twenty years' watching 

 of puffins on the Scilly Isles never saw them rest on the tarsus except when preparing to take 

 flight (in litt.), by Mr. O. V. Aplin and others, and is, I believe, generally accepted. 



2 Zoologist, 1910, 41 (O. V. Aplin). 



3 O. V. Aplin, loc. cit. 



4 Harvie-Brown and Buckley, The Fauna of the Outer Hebrides, p. 166. 



