306 THE MANX SHEARWATER 



with the name in books should satisfy himself whether the subject 

 of his study be an Auk or a Shearwater, before he admits as facts 

 any statements about the ' Puffin ' which may fall in his way. 

 Yarrell, for instance, gives the name of Puffin to the bird already 

 described under the name of Fratercula Arctica, while by Montagu 

 that bird is described under the name of ' Coulterneb ', ' Puffin ' 

 being given as a synonym for the Shearwater. Off Cornwall it is 

 called skiddeu and brew. 



The Shearwater is so called from its mode of flight, in which it 

 1 shears ' or skims the water ; and its distinctive name, Manx, it 

 owes to its having been formerly very abundant in the Calf * of 

 Man, a small island lying south of the Isle of Man. 



The Manx Shearwater is, during the greater portion of the year, 

 an ocean-bird, and only ventures on shore during the breeding season.' 

 It then repairs to some island, or portion of the coast little frequented 

 by man, and in society with other birds of the same species there 

 takes up its summer quarters. A sandy or light earthy soil, scantily 

 furnished with vegetation, is preferred to any other station. Its 

 nest is a hole in the ground, either the deserted burrow of a rabbit 

 or a tunnel excavated by itself, or less frequently it lays its one 

 egg in the crevice of a rock. During the day Shearwaters, for the 

 most part, remain concealed in their holes, and he so close that they 

 will suffer themselves to be dug out with a spade and make no 

 attempt to escape. Towards evening they quit their hiding-places, 

 and paddle or fly out to sea in quest of food. This consists of small 

 fish and other marine animals which swim near the surface, and are 

 caught by the birds either while they are floating or ' shearing ' 

 the water. No nest ever contains more than one egg, but that one 

 and the chick which it produces are objects of the greatest solicitude. 



Unfortunately for the poor Shearwaters, their young, though 

 fed on half-digested fish oil, are delicate eating ; consequently, 

 some of the stations of these birds have been quite depopulated/ 

 and in others their numbers have been greatly thinned. 



Willughby tells us that in his time ' Puffins ' were very numerous 

 in the Calf of Man, and that fully fledged young birds, taken from 

 the nests, were sold at the rate of ninepence a dozen. He adds, 

 that in order to keep an accurate reckoning of the number taken, 

 it was customary to cut off, and retain, one of each bird's legs. 

 The consequence was that the state in which the birds were sent 

 to market was supposed to be their natural condition, and the 

 Puffin was popularly believed to be a ' monopod ' (one-footed bird). 



This station is now nearly, if not quite, deserted ; but colonies 

 still exist in Annet, one of the Scilly Islands, on the south coast 

 of Wales, in the Orkneys, and in the Shetlands. In the Scilly 



1 ' Calf ', on many parts of the coast, is a name given to the sm Jler of two 

 rocks in proximity, of which the larger is called the ' Cow '. 



