136 LITTLE AUK PUFFIN. 



Food. Fish and Crustacea. 



Nest. May or June. One brood. 



Site. Not, like the Common Guillemot, on ledges, but. like 

 the Razorbill, in fissures in rocks or under rocks. 



Materials. None. 



Eggs. Two. Like Kazorbill's in shape. Bluish or greenish 

 white, blotched and speckled with various shades of brown 

 and ash-grey. 



LITTLE AUK (Mergulus alle). 



An irregular winter visitor, sometimes occurring in con- 

 siderable numbers. It is a circumpolar species. It may be 

 distinguished by its short, stout bill, small white spot over the 

 eye, sooty black upper parts, sooty black throat (which in 

 winter becomes white), and white under parts. 



PUFFIN (Fratercula arctica). 



Migrant ; April to August. It breeds in immense numbers 

 at various stations all round our coasts, notably in the northern 

 and western isles of Scotland, Bass Eock, Flamborough Head, 

 Fame Islands, Isle of Wight, Dorset, Devon, and Cornish 

 coasts. Scilly Islands, Channel Islands, Lundy Island, on Welsh 

 and Irish coasts, Anglesea, Isle of Man, &c. 



Plumage. Sides of face white. Head and upper parts black. 

 Under parts white. Eyelid orange-red ; above and below the 

 eye bluish grey areas. Bill blue at base, yellow in the middle, 

 and red at the tip, and adze-shaped.. Legs and feet orange-red. 

 Length 12 in. Female similar. In winter the bill is smaller 

 and duller. Young : face and sides of head dusky grey ; patch 

 of sooty black in front of eye ; young in down, blackish 

 brown. 



Language. Usually very silent. It emits a grating kind of 

 noise, like " a-r-r." 



Habits. Perhaps our most grotesque bird, with its multi- 

 coloured, toucan-like, and ill-proportioned bill, its plump, com- 

 pact body, and short legs. Eminently sociable in the breeding 

 season, its nesting holes literally riddling the soft, peaty earth 

 that it usually frequents. On land it waddles awkwardly. It 

 flies rapidly with quickly agitated wings, and swims and dives 

 well. When sitting, the parent will suffer itself to be captured 

 rather than forsake its treasure. 



Food. Fish and Crustacea. 



Nest. May. One brood. 



Site. Under rocks, in clefts in rocks, in rabbit-burrows, but 

 usually in a burrow tunnelled by the bird itself in soft, peaty 



