i jo ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



are able to fly. The breeding places are now deserted, and the 

 little birds wander about the open ocean in search of their 

 favourite food. In rough weather they are said to come nearer 

 to the shore, and to frequent the land-locked bays and quiet 

 fjords. They seem but poorly adapted to withstand any 

 violent storm, and are soon driven exhausted ashore, often for 

 some considerable distance inland. The Little Auk only rears 

 one nestling in the year, but it probably lays again if its first 

 egg is taken. 



" The food of the Little Auk is principally composed of 

 minute crustaceans, and probably small fish and marine insects. 

 When engaged in rearing its young, it appears to store a great 

 quantity of these small crustaceans in its mouth, visibly purring 

 out its cheeks as Swallows and other insect-feeding birds do, so 

 that it may convey a large amount of food to its distant nestling 

 at once." 



Nest. None, the eggs being either placed in a cliff high above 

 the water, or in a crevice or under stones, often at some dis- 

 tances beneath the latter. 



Eggs. One. Uniform greenish-white. Axis, i 9-2*1 inches; 

 diam., i -3-1 '35. 



THE PUFFINS. GENUS FRATERCULA. 



Fratercula, Briss. Orn. vi. p. Si (1760). 



Type, F. arctica (Linn.). 



The Puffins are easily distinguished from the rest of the 

 Auks by their peculiar bill, which has deep grooves or sulca- 

 tions, while in summer there are some wattles on the face. 

 The nostrils are exposed, and are not approached by any of 

 the close-set plumes of the face. In some of the Pacific- 

 species of Puffins (Lunda), there is a remarkable tuft of hairy 

 straw-coloured feathers springing from behind the eye. 



I. THE PUFFIN. FRATERCULA ARCTICA. 



Aha arctica^ Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 211 (1766). 

 Mormon arcticus, Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 365 (1852). 

 Fratercula arctica, Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. 599, pi 625 (1877); 

 B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 208 (1883); Saunders, ed. 



