PUFFIN 499 



Often an interesting insight into Puffin family-life is 

 gained by the observer who, taking a quiet walk on a day in 

 June round the sharp bend of a sloping cliff honeycombed 

 with rabbit-burrows, suddenly finds himself in the midst of 

 a Puffin-colony, where hundreds of these little creatures are 

 standing erect and gazing with their knowing little eyes, 

 half grave, half comical in expression, astonishing him with 

 their confidence and impudent demeanour. Odd-looking 

 Auks indeed they are, and with what a curious mixture of 

 facial expression ! Their fat, bulging, and good humoured- 

 looking cheeks offer a bold contrast to the gravity of 

 countenance displayed in their great, aquiline, nose-like 

 beak, while the dignity of this member's form is, in turn, 

 sadly marred by the way in which Nature has embossed, 

 grooved, and tattoed it in glaring colours. 



The usual attitude of this Auk when not alarmed is 

 almost erect. The whole foot, including the heel, touches 

 the ground, and though the bird is ' standing ' in the true 

 sense of the word, it is commonly described as ' sitting up.' 

 But directly it catches sight of the spectator, curiosity is 

 aroused, and it raises itself on tiptoe, the position generally 

 depicted in ' photographs from nature.' 1 The bird walks in 

 a decidedly awkward and shuffling manner ; the heels are 

 barely raised off the ground, yet at each step the feet are 

 sprawled far apart while the body waddles from side to side. 



On some headlands, the single egg is deposited on the 

 ledge or crevice of a cliff. Kabbits are said to be dislodged 

 from their rightful homes and may get bitten (and this the 

 Puffin can do viciously with his formidable beak), should 

 they resist eviction. 



Where rabbit-burrows are scarce, or the soil is hard and 

 stony, the bird scrapes for itself a comparatively shallow 

 hole : the nest is composed of dry grass and a few feathers. 



The egg, the shell of which is rough in texture, is at first 

 greyish- white, finely spotted, sometimes even zoned with 

 pale lilac and pale reddish-brown. 



Incubation begins about the first week in May, and 

 lasts a month, and during that time the shell becomes much 



1 This attitude is easily secured by the aid of a camera, but it is not 

 really natural, expressing, as it does, a position of unusual attention 

 rather than one of comfort and satisfaction. To photograph a Puffin in 

 a perfectly natural attitude (as it may be seen from ambush) would be a 

 much more difficult task. 



