554 



of Natural Hi 



and great strengtli of their bill, that they are 

 able to crush and pluck out other kinds of 

 shell-fish. The female deposits her single 

 whitish-coloured egg in a hole dug out and 

 formed in the ground, by her mate and her- 

 self, or in one ready made by the rabbits, 



which they easily dislodge. Puffins are met 

 with on almost all the rocky clilfs on the 

 coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and on 

 many of the surrounding islands, in immense 

 numbers. They are gregarious and migra- 

 tory. They hatch their young early in 

 July ; from which time till about the middle 

 of August they are employed in nurturing 

 and rearing their brood ; which being done, 

 the whole company leaves the breeding- 

 place, and pursues its route to other regions, 

 more suited to their future exigencies. 



PUFFINUS. A genus of web-footed birds 

 allied to the Petrels. The nostrils have se- 

 parate openings, and the end of the lower 

 mandible is bent downwards. 



Our British species, which is called the 

 MANKS PETREL, and sometimes the SHEAR- 

 WATER or SCRAUE (Piijfinus anglorum), has 

 the wings longer than the tail ; it is of a 

 black colour above, and is white beneath, 

 the sides of the neck being freckled with 

 black and white. It arrives at its breeding 

 places in March, and generally leaves in 

 August. They breed on the Isle of Man in 

 rabbit-holes, in the Scilly Islands, and in 

 different parts of Scotland. The young are 

 fat, and sought after by the inhabitants, who 

 salt them and eat them with potatoes and 

 cabbage : the feathers also are collected. 

 Another closely allied and widely distributed 

 species is 



The SOOTY PETREL (Puffinus major) is 

 mentioned byone of our voyagers as frequent- 



ing some of the tufted, grassy parts of the 

 South Sea islands in astonishing numbers. 

 It is known that these birds make burrows in 

 the ground, like rabbits; that they lay one or 

 two enormous eggs in these holes, and bring 

 up their young there. In the evening they 



I come in from sea, having their stomachs filled 

 with a gelatinous substance gathered from 

 the waves : and this they eject into the throats 

 of their offspring, or retain for their own 

 nourishment, according to circumstances. 

 A little after sunset, the air at Preservation 

 Island used to be darkened with their 



I _ __ - __ ______ 



numbers ; and it was generally an hour be- 

 fore their squabblings ceased, and every one 

 had found its own retreat. These birds are 

 about the size of a pigeon, and when skinned 

 and dried in smoke we thought them pas- 

 sable food. Any quantity could be pro- 

 cured, by sending people on shore in the 

 evening. The sole process was to thrust in 

 the arm up to the shoulder, and seize them 

 briskly ; but there was some danger of 

 grasping a snake at the bottom of the burrow, 

 instead of a Petrel. 



Capt. Sir James Clark Ross, in his Voyage 

 &c. to the Antarctic Regions, observes that 

 when in lat. 47 17' S. long. 58 50' E. " we 

 were accompanied on our course by many 

 of the great Albatross, and the large dark 

 Petrel, and still more numerously by the 

 speckled Cape Pigeon (Daption capensis) and 

 Stormy Petrel, of two or three different kinds. 

 These birds added a degree of cheerfulness 

 to our solitary wanderings, which contrasted 

 strongly with the dreary and unvarying still- 

 ness of the tropical region, where not a sea- 

 bird is to be seen, except only in the vicinity 

 of its few scattered islets, which is the more 

 remarkable where the ocean abounds so plen- 

 tifully with creatures fit for their food. [See 



TlIALASSIDROMA.] 



PUG [MOTHS]. A name applied by 

 collectors to various species of Moths of the 

 genus EupitJtecia, 



PULEX. [See FLEA.] 

 PULMOGRADA. [See ACALEPHA.] 



PULMONARIA. The name of an order 

 of the Arachmda, or Spiders, having small 

 foot-like palpi, not terminating in pincers ; 

 and the Pedipalpi, or Scorpions and their 

 allies, having very large palpi, which termi- 

 nate in pincers. [See AKACHNIDA.] 



PULMONEA ; or PULMONATA. The 

 name of an order of Gasteropodous Molluscs, 

 comprehending those which breathe air, to 

 which the blood is exposed while circulating 

 through a vascular network which lines the 

 internal surface of the bronchial cavity. 

 Although the greater part of the Molluscs 

 of this order live on land, some are aquatic ; 

 but these are obliged to come occasionally 

 to the surface to breathe. They all feed 

 upon vegetables, and many of them do so 

 exclusively ; but some are extremely vora- 

 cious. Those without a shell, commonly 

 known as Slugs, constitute the family Lima- 

 citus. Those which have a shell, viz. the 

 Snails and their allies, constitute the family 

 Helicince. 



PUMA. ( Felis concdlor.') This animal, 

 which is the largest of the feline species 

 found in America, and has sometimes been 

 termed the American Lion, is about five 

 feet from nose to tail ; the tail itself mea- 

 suring somewhat more than two feet and a 

 half. The Puma is of a brownish red colour, 

 with small patches of rather a deeper tint, 

 which are only observable in certain lights, 

 and disappear entirely as the animal ad- 

 vances in age : the breast, belly, and insides 

 of the thighs are of a reddish-ash colour ; 

 the lower jaw and throat entirely white ; 



