THE AUK. 



221 



sent ; visiting regions too remote for discovery. 

 At the latter end of March, or the beginning 

 of April, come over a troop of their spies or 

 harbingers, that stay two or three days, as it 

 were to view and search out for their former 

 situations, and see whether all be well. This 

 done, they once more depart ; and about the 

 beginning of May, return again with the 

 whole army of their companions. But if the 

 season happens to be stormy and tempestu- 

 ous, and the sea troubled, the unfortunate 

 voyagers undergo incredible hardships: and 

 they are found, by hundreds, cast away upon 

 the shores, lean and perished with famine. 1 

 It is most probable, therefore, that this voyage 

 is performed more on the water than in the 

 air ; and as they cannot fish in stormy wea- 

 ther, their strength is exhausted before they 

 can arrive at their wished-for harbour. 



The puffin, when it prepares for breeding, 

 which always happens a few days after its 

 arrival, begins to scrape up a hole in the 

 ground not far from the shore ; and when it 

 has some way penetrated the earth, it then 

 throws itself upon its back, and with bill and 

 claws thus burrows inward, till it has dug a 

 hole with several windings and turnings, from 

 eight to ten feet deep. It particularly seeks 

 to dig under a stone, where it expects the 

 greatest security. In this fortified retreat it 

 lays one egg ; which though the bird be not 

 much bigger than a pigeon, is of the size of 

 a hen's. 



When the young one is excluded, the 

 parent's industry and courage is incredible. 

 Few birds or beasts will venture to attack 

 them in their retreats. When the great sea- 

 raven, as Jacobson informs us, comes to take 

 away their young, the puffins boldly oppose 

 him. Their meeting affords a most singular 

 combat. As soon as the raven approaches, 

 the puffin catches him under the throat with 

 its beak, and sticks its claws into its breast, 

 which makes the raven, with a loud scream- 

 ing, attempt to get away ; but the little bird 

 still holds fast to the invader, nor lets him 

 go till they both come to the sea, where they 

 drop down together, and the raven is drowned; 

 yet the raven is but too often successful; 

 and, invading the puffin at the bottom of its 

 hole, devours both the parent and its family. 



But were a punishment to be inflicted for 

 immorality in irrational animals, the puffin is 

 justly a sufferer from invasion, as it is often 

 itself one of the most terrible invaders. Near 

 the isle of Anglesey, in an islet called 

 Priesholm, their flocks may be compared, 

 for multitude, to swarms of bees. In another 



parent, who procures food for them, and, according to 



Pennant, has often been observed to feed them with 



small eels. For Horned Grebe, see Plato XX. fig. 18. 



i VVilloughby's Ornith. p. 33o. 



islet, called the Calf of Man, a bird of this 

 kind, but of a different species, is seen in 

 great abundance. In both places, numbers 

 of rabbits are found to breed; but the puffin, 

 unwilling to be at the trouble of making a 

 hole, when there is one ready made, dispos- 

 sesses the rabbits, and it is not unlikely de- 

 stroys their young. It is in these unjustly 

 acquired retreats that the young puffins are 

 found in great numbers, and become a very 

 valuable acquisition to the natives of the 

 place. The old ones (I am now speaking of 

 the Manks puffin) early in the morning, at 

 break of day, leave their nests and young, 

 and even the island, nor do they return till 

 night-fall. All this time they are diligently 

 employed in fishing for their young ; so that 

 their retreats on land, which in the morning 

 were loud and clamorous, are now still and 

 quiet, with not a wing stirring till the approach 

 of dusk, when their screams once more an- 

 nounce their return. Whatever fish, or other 

 food, they have procured in the day, by night 

 begins to suffer a kind of half digestion, and 

 is reduced to an oily matter, which is ejected 

 from the stomach of the old ones into the 

 mouth of the young. By this they are nour- 

 ished, and become fat to an amazing degree. 

 When they are arrived to their full growth, 

 they who are intrusted by the lord of the 

 island, draw them from their holes ; and, that 

 they may more readily keep an account of the 

 number they take, cut off one foot as a token. 

 Their flesh is said to be excessively rank, as 

 they feed upon fish, especially sprats, and 

 sea-weed; however, when they are pickled 

 and preserved with spices, they are admired 

 by those who are fond of high eating. We 

 are told, that formerly their flesh was allowed 

 by the church on Lenten days. They were, 

 at that time, also taken by ferrets, as we do 

 rabbits. At present, they are either dug out, 

 or drawn out, from their burrows, with a 

 hooked stick. They bite extremely hard, and 

 keep such fast hold of whatsoever they seize 

 upon, as not to be easily disengaged. Their 

 noise, when taken, is very disagreeable, 

 being like the efforts of a dumb person at- 

 tempting to speak. 



The constant depredation which these birds 

 annually suffer, does not in the least seem to 

 intimidate them, or drive them away; on the 

 contrary, as the people say, the nest must be 

 robbed or the old ones will breed there no 

 longer. All birds of this kind lay but one 

 egg ; yet if that be taken away, they will lay 

 another, and so on to a third ; which seems to 

 imply, that robbing their nests does not much 

 intimidate them from laying again. Those, 

 however, whose nests have been thus de- 

 stroyed, are often too late in bringing up their 

 young ; who, if they be not fledged and pre- 



