THE PUFFIN. I6t 



indistinctly marked with spots, large or small, and sometimes streaks, of light- 

 brown and lavender- grey. The amount of the markings varies considerable, but 

 they are chiefly underlying. Some eggs are much more richly marked than 

 others, and some very handsome eggs have been described. Skomer Island has 

 been mentioned as producing unusually fine eggs (" Birds of Pembrokeshire.") 



The punctuality with which these birds arrive at, and leave, their breeding 

 places, has frequently been remarked upon. Various days from the ist to the 

 loth of April have been assigned as the date of their arrival at divers localities, 

 while the departure seems to take place from early August (in South Wales) to 

 the latter part of that month in the Shetlands. 



However prettily the bright colouring of the Puffin may contrast with green 

 turf, grey rocks and a blue sea, the aspect of the bird is intensely grotesque. 

 The brilliantly coloured beak, large out of all proportion to the size of the bird, 

 together with a certain air of stolidity and mock solemnity which the bird seems 

 to wear, combine to produce a most comic appearance. 



At their breeding stations Puffins are very tame, and allow a boat to approach 

 them very closely before they bob under, to reappear at a short distance away. They 

 fly rapidly and well, rising easily from the water and are much more at home in 

 the air than are Guillemots, turning and wheeling with ease. They walk, and 

 even run, readily, treading on the feet alone and not on the tarsi, nor do they 

 always, when standing still, rest on the tarsi as well as the feet. The Puffin feeds 

 chiefly on fish, but also eats water insects, crustaceans, etc. It feeds its young on 

 fish, at first disgorged for its benefit, but afterwards on freshly caught fry which 

 it carries up to the nest crosswise in its bill ; several fish (Mr. Howard Saunders 

 states that as many as eight) are carried up at a time. How the Puffin manages 

 to retain fish number one while it catches number two, and so on, we do not 

 know. 



The Puffin is a very silent bird. In descriptions of breeding places where 

 myriads of birds congregate we seldom find any mention of cries being heard. I 

 could hear no cry from birds I watched at Flaniborough. Seebohm says its note 

 is a grating noise, usually uttered when the bird is taken in the hand, and varies 

 from o-r-r to a-r-r as the bird is angry or pleased, and almost becomes a purr 

 when the old bird is feeding the young. 



None of our rock-birds have attracted more general attention than the Puffin. 

 This is chiefly on account of the vast numbers that congregate at some of its 

 breeding places. The Puffin gives a name to two islands, namely, Lundy, off the 

 coast of Devon (from the Norsk name of the bird, Lunde and ey, an island. H. 

 Saunders), and Priestholme off the coast of Anglesey, which is commonly called 



VOL. VI 2 B 



