5G6 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



the principal ; yet this is not invariable, and it cannot be 

 depended upon as a sure means of identification. 



MORMON, Illiger. 



Mormon, Illiger, Prod. (1811), 283. 



General form short and heavy, and adapted to swimming and diving with great 

 facility, and to limited power of flight; bill short, entirely horny, much flattened 

 laterally, and nearly as high as long; measured on the side obliquely rugose and 

 laminated; a portion at the base punctulated; nostril in the edge of and in the 

 second lamina of the upper mandible; wing moderate or rather weak, first quill 

 usually longest; tail short; legs short; toes, three only, directed forwards, rather 

 long, fully webbed; claws large, curved; plumage very compact. 



MORMON AECTICA. — 7%er. 



The Puffin. 



Alca arciica, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 211, 

 ■ Mormmi arctica, Illiger. Prod. (1811). Aud. Orn. Biog., IIL 105. 



Description. 



Smaller than either of the preceding, but much resembling the t^vo last species 

 in form and color; a short, blunt process over each eye, and a narrow transverse 

 process under it; bill much flattened laterally, horny; upper mandible composed of 

 two parts, that at the base narrow, and covered with minute spots or granulations, 

 terminal part with about four curved ridges at its base, and two or three curved 

 descending grooves near the end; under mandible smooth at base, and with about 

 three grooves near its end; wing rather short and weak; tail short; legs and feet 

 strong; throat black, uniting with the same color of the upper parts of the body; 

 large space on each side of the head and entire under parts, from the throat, white, 

 frequently tinged with ashy about the eyes; entire upper parts (and throat) brown- 

 ish-black, darker, and frequently clear black on the back; head above frequently 

 dark-ashj', separated bj' a well-defined line from the black of the other upper parts; 

 bill and feet orange-yellow; sides, under the wings, ashy-black; iris light-blue. 



Total length, about twelve and a half inches; wing, seven and a half; tail, two 

 and three-quarters inches. 



This bird is not uncommon on the coast of northern New 

 England as a winter visitor, and a few breed on the islands 

 about Grand Menan. The nest is placed in a burrow in the 

 earth, dug by the birds. " In all the burrows that commu- 

 nicate with each other, a round place is scooped out on one 

 side of the avenue in the form of an oven ; while, in those 

 which are single, this ovenlike place is found at the end. 

 All the passages are flattish above and rounded beneath, as 



