220 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



Words cannot easily describe the form of 

 the bill of the puffin, which differs so greatly 

 from that of any other bird. Those who have 

 seen the coulter of a plough, may form some 

 idea of the beak of this odd-looking animal. 

 The bill is flat ; but, very different from that 

 of a duck, its edge is upwards : it is of a 

 triangular figure, and ending in a sharp 

 point, the upper chap bent a little downward, 

 where it is joined to the head ; and a certain 

 callous substance encompassing its base, as in 

 parrots. It is of two colours; ash-coloured 

 near the base, and red towards the point. It 

 has three furrows or grooves impressed in it ; 

 one in the livid part, two in the red. The 

 eyes are fenced with a protuberant skin, of a 

 livid colour ; and they are gray or ash-col- 

 oured. These are marks sufficient to distin- 

 guish this bird by; but its value to those 

 in whose vicinity it breeds, renders it still 

 more an object of curiosity. 



The puffin, (see Plate XX. fig. 9.) like 

 all the rest of this kind, has its legs thrown 

 so far back, that it can hardly move without 

 tumbling. This makes it rise with difficulty, 

 and subject to many falls before it gets upon 

 the wing : but as it is a small bird, not much 

 bigger than a pigeon, when it once rises, it 

 can continue its flight with great celerity. 



Both this and all the former build no nest ; 

 but lay their eggs either in the crevices of 

 rocks, or in holes under ground near the shore. 

 They chiefly choose the latter situation ; for 

 the puffin, the auk, the guillemot, and the 

 rest, cannot easily rise to the nest when in a 

 lofty situation. Many are the attempts these 

 birds are seen to make to fly up to those nests 

 which are so high above the surface. In ren- 

 dering them inaccessible to mankind, they 

 often render them almost inaccessible to them- 

 selves. They are frequently obliged to make 

 three or four efforts, before they can come at 

 the place of incubation. For this reason, the 

 auk and guillemot, when they have once laid 

 their single egg, which is extremely large for 

 the size, seldom forsake it until it is excluded. 

 The male, who is better furnished for flight, 

 feeds the female during this interval ; and so 

 bare is the place where she sits, that the egg 

 would often roll down from the rock, did not 

 the body of the bird support it. 



But the puffin seldom chooses these inac- 

 cessible and troublesome heights for its situa- 

 tion. Relying on its courage and the strength 

 of its bill, with which it bites most terribly, 

 it either makes or finds a hole in the ground, 

 where to lay and bring forth its young. All 

 the winter these birds, like the rest, are ab- 



not web-footed, but the toes are enlarged as in the coots. 

 They live on lakes and ponds, and build in the rushes. 

 Their plumage, which changes much with age, is used 

 frequently by furriers. The following cut represents 

 the Cretted Grebe. 



This is one of the largest of the genus, and is an in- 

 digenous species, breeding annually on the pools amidst 

 the fens, on the moors of Shropshire and Cheshire, and 

 on a few of the northern Scottish lakes. During the 

 winter, when the waters of the interior of the country 

 are frozen, it retires to the mouths of rivers, and to the 

 line of sea-coast, where it obtains the necessary supply 

 of fish and small crustaceous animals, which constitute 

 its principal food. Being upwards of three years in ac- 

 quiring maturity, or at least the full development of the 

 frieze that surrounds the neck and the occipital tufts, it 

 is much more frequently met with in the young or im- 

 perfect state of plumage, than in that of the adult ; and 

 out of more than a dozen specimens, which have at dif- 

 ferent times come under my observation, not one had 



attained the distinguishing characters of the Crested 

 Grebe. In this immature state it was long supposed to 

 be- a distinct species, and as such was known by the 

 name of the Tippet Grebe, adopted from the use to which 

 the soft and silky plumage of the lower parts of the body 

 was often applied. When swimming, it moves very 

 rapidly, and, from the flatness of its body, exhibits little 

 more than the head and neck above the water. It dives 

 with remarkable quickness, and is able to avoid the shot 

 from a fowling-piece fired by flint and steel, though it 

 cannot so easily escape from the sudden inflammation 

 of the percussion- lock. Its progress when below the sur- 

 face, which (as in other diving birds) is performed by an 

 action of the wings somewhat similar to that of flying, is 

 so speedy, as frequently to baffle the pursuit of a well- 

 managed boat, and a stretch of 200 yards is sometimes 

 made, before it rises again to breathe ; and this act of 

 respiration, before the bird becomes fatigued by continued 

 pursuit, is commonly effected by merely raising the head 

 above water. It rarely flies, according to Temminck, 

 even making its migrations by swimming, which, 

 however, cannot always be the case, as it is sometimes 

 found on isolated pieces of water, where it could not 

 arrive unless by the use of its wings ; and these, though 

 short, are not comparatively smaller than in some other 

 species that are known to fly occasionally. Upon the 

 continental parts of Europe it is abundant, particularly 

 in Holland and certain districts of Germany. It is also 

 known in America, and is mentioned in the Fanna 

 America; Borealis, as having been killed by Dr Richard- 

 son upon the Saskatshcwan . It breeds in the fresh 

 water, amidst reeds and other rank herbage, and the 

 nest, which is very large and floats on the surface, is 

 composed of a mass of decayed vegetable roots, flags, 

 stems of water-lily, &c. The eggs, three or four in 

 number, are of a greenish-white, in size rather bigger 

 than those of a Teal. The young, when first excluded, 

 are clothed in a parti-coloured down of reddish-brown 

 and grayish-white, and are assiduously attended by the 



