2S 4 



MAMMALS AND BIRDS OF THE ARCTIC 



the female lays only one egg, but if this be lost a second is deposited, and if need 

 be, even a third. As a breeding-site razorbills prefer bare beetling cliffs with 

 numerous clefts and crannies in which the eggs are deposited, the open ledges 

 favoured by guillemots not being to the liking of these birds. 



That grotesque bird the puffin, or sea-parrot (Fratcrcula arctica) } 

 is sufficiently characterised by its curiously shaped and brilliantly 

 coloured beak. The plumage is pied, the head, back, and a collar round the neck 



Puffin. 



TUFFINS. 



being deep black, and the under-parts pure white, while the feet and much of the 

 beak, as well as the fleshy rosettes, are brilliant orange. The beak is indeed of 

 most remarkable form, being high at the base, like that of a parrot, much com- 

 pressed at the sides, and deeply grooved in front. Very powerful is this beak, 

 which also serves as a pouch, owing to the presence of much loose skin at the base. 



