GUILLEMOTS, RAZORBILL, ETC. 147 



localities it not only arrives punctually on a certain 

 day, but retires from them in autumn with its young 

 almost as regularly ! In some places Puffins arrive 

 on the land to breed as early as March ; in others, 

 not before April ; in others, yet again, not before 

 the beginning of May. With the exception of 

 the south and east coasts of England where it is 

 only sparingly and locally distributed the Puffin, 

 from Flamborough northwards, is widely and 

 generally dispersed. In some places its numbers 

 are almost incredible, as for instance, at Lundy 

 Island, the Fame Islands, on some of the Hebrides, 

 and St. Kilda. There is a very interesting colony 

 of Puffins established amongst the walls of the 

 ancient fortress on the Bass Rock, but so far as 

 my experience goes the colony on St. Kilda stands 

 unrivalled, and, at a very moderate computation, 

 must consist of many millions of birds ! The 

 Puffin most probably pairs for life, and returns time 

 out of mind to certain familiar spots to rear its 

 offspring. In most places the bird makes its scanty 

 nest in a burrow which it excavates itself, but in 

 some localities rabbit holes are frequently made 

 use of. In some localities, however, the bird 

 makes a nest in a crevice of the cliffs or beneath 

 heaps of rocks. By the end of April both birds 

 are engaged in scraping out this burrow, if cir- 

 cumstances demand it, which often extends for 

 several yards in the loamy soil, sometimes sloping 

 downwards, sometimes tortuous, sometimes nearly 



