BLACK GUILLEMOT 



351 



Brunnich's guillemot (Lomvia bruennichi) is a very rare 

 straggler from the arctic regions to the northern islands and coasts 

 of Scotland. 



The little auk (Murrjulus alle] is an irregular visitor, sometimes in 

 considerable numbers, to the British coasts, especially in the north. 

 It is a circumpolar species, and straggles southwards in winter, 

 but seldom approaches the British Islands, except in very severe 

 weather. 



Puffin. 

 Fratercula arctica. 



Crown, collar, and upper 

 parts black, all the rest white ; 

 bill, bluish at the base, yellow 

 in the middle, bright red at the 

 tip ; legs and feet orange -red. 

 Length, twelve inches. 



Among British birds, 

 whether sea or land, the puffin 

 is the most singular in appear- 

 ance a small auk, compact in 

 build, conspicuous in black and 

 white plumage, broad collar, 

 white, owlish face, and great 

 beak, short and adze -shaped, 

 but massive as a toucan's. The 

 brilliant colours of this beak, too red with orange bars give it a 

 curious resemblance to the enormous organ of the tropical bird. One 

 may look at the purlin almost daily, as he stands on the rocks, always 

 with something of surprise at his strikingly handsome yet grotesque 

 appearance. The fanciful idea suggests itself that the bird is a 

 masquerade! 1 ; that the visible, brilliantly coloured beak has been 

 artificially made, and put on over -the natural beak, just as in the 

 case of a human masquerader a large, gaily coloured, artificial 

 nose is sometimes placed over the natural organ. And the puffin's 

 beak is, in fact, something of a mask, or superimposed ornament ; 

 and after the breeding season its surface peels off in horny plates, 

 and is shed like the deciduous bark of certain trees. The bird's beak 

 in winter is moderate in size and dull-coloured. 



FIG. 120. PUFFIN. 1 natural size. 



