THE PUFFIN 53 



white transverse line (Figs. 3, 4). On the lower mandible, the part 



of the beak next to the chin is visibly smaller, the result being to 



make the underside of the mandible come 



more distinctly to a point in its middle. 



The fillet along the base of the upper 



mandible disappears, as in the case of the 



puffin (Fig. 3, *). 



Having caught its fish, the puffin carries 



Fig. 3. RAZORBILL IN SUMMER. 



them to its hole, and is said to drop them 



before the young, and gives them to it one by one. Macgillivray 



states that the newborn chick is fed by regurgitation, or receives 



little pieces of fish which are placed in its 



mouth, and that the larger pick up the pieces 



from the ground at the entrance of the hole, 



but he does not make clear whether he saw 



this take place or accepted it on hearsay. 1 



Fig. 4. RAZORBILL IN WINTER. 



When, in July or August, the young are 



ready to quit their hole they go fluttering, rolling, running, and 

 tumbling down to the sea. 2 This is said to occur chiefly at night 

 or daybreak. 3 Of their behaviour on reaching the water, and the 

 time of their departure, too little is recorded to be worth noting. 

 At the end of August, or later, both young and old have disappeared 

 out to sea. They are found in winter over the North Atlantic and 

 in the western Mediterranean. 



The chief enemies of the puffins, apart from the gales which toss 

 them dead ashore, are the hawks and larger gulls. The peregrine 

 has been seen to snap up the young when they are old enough to 

 appear at the entrance to their holes for food. 4 The remains of old 

 and young may be found all about the colony. The former are often 

 seized unawares as they are issuing from their nest-holes. Mr. C. J. 



1 History of Birds, v. 372. 



2 Ussher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 369(M'Carron) ; Patten, Aquatic Birds, p. 500. 



3 Ussher and Warren, loc. cit. * Ussher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 369. 



