PUFFIN 75 * 



were taken from the holes in which they were hatched, and 

 "being exceeding fat," as Carew wrote in 1602 (Survey of Cormvall, 

 fol. 35), were "kept salted, and reputed for fish as coming neerest 

 thereto in their taste." In 1345, according to a document from 

 which an extract is given in Heath's Islands of Scilly (p. 190) those 

 islands were held of the crown at a yearly rent of 300 Puffins l or 

 6s. 8d., being one-sixth of their estimated annual value. Some 

 years later (1484), either through the birds having grown scarcer 

 or money cheaper, only 50 Puffins are said (op. cit. p. 196) to have 

 been demanded. It is stated by both Gesner and Caius that they 

 were allowed to be eaten in Lent. Ligon, who in 1673 speaks 

 (Hist, Barbadoes, p. 37) of the ill taste of Puffins "which we have 

 from the isles of Scilly," and adds, " this kind of food is only for 

 servants." Puffins used to resort in vast numbers to certain stations 

 on the coast, and are still plentiful on some, 2 reaching them in spring 

 with remarkable punctuality on a certain day, which naturally varies 

 with the locality, and after passing the summer there, leaving their 

 homes with similar precision. They differ from most other Alcidze 

 in laying their single egg (which is white, with a few grey markings, 

 when first produced but speedily begrimed by the soil) in a shallow 

 burrow, which they either dig for themselves or appropriate from 

 a rabbit, for on many of their haunts rabbits have been introduced. 

 Their plumage is of a glossy black above the cheeks grey, en- 

 circled by a black band and pure white beneath ; their feet are of 

 a bright reddish-orange, but the most remarkable feature of these 

 birds, and one that gives them a very comical expression, is their 

 huge bill. This is very deep and laterally flattened, so as, indeed, 

 to resemble a coulter, as one of the bird's common names expresses ; 

 but moreover it is parti-coloured blue, yellow and red curiously 

 grooved and still more curiously embossed in places, that is to say, 

 during the breeding-season, when the birds are most frequently 



1 There can not be much doubt that the name Puffin given to these young 

 birds, salted and dried, was applied on account of their downy clothing, /for an 

 English informant of Gesner's described one to him (Hist. Avium, p. 110) as 

 wanting true feathers, and being covered only with a sort of woolly black 

 plumage. It is right, however, to state that Caius expressly declares (Rarior. 

 animal, libellus, fol. 21) that the name is derived "a natural! voce pupin." 

 Prof. Skeat states that the word is a diminutive, which favours the view that it 

 was originally used for these young birds. The parents were probably known by 

 one or other of their many local names. 



2 In 1893 I took some trouble to make an estimate, though from the nature 

 of the case a very rough one, of the number of Puffins which had their home in 

 one locality among the Hebrides. The calculation worked out to be three millions, 

 and my friend Mr. Henry Evans, to whose kindness I was indebted for the 

 opportunity of visiting the place, considered that number not to be excessive. 

 In 1894 I was again at the same spot and was inclined to think that I had 

 before underrated the number. 



