148 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



straight. At the end, or elsewhere in some cases, 

 the slight nest of dry grass and a few feathers is 

 formed. Occasionally several pairs occupy one 

 burrow, each pair enlarging a portion of it for their 

 own requirements into a kind of chamber ; whilst 

 many of the burrows have several openings, and 

 are evidently the work of successive years. In 

 this rude nest the hen Puffin lays a single egg, 

 dull white, sometimes tinged with blue or gray, 

 and obscurely spotted with pale brown and gray. 

 Contact with the earth in the burrow and with 

 the wet feet of the sitting bird, soon discolours this 

 egg, and renders it almost like a ball of peat in 

 appearance. When disturbed at their breeding 

 places, such Puffins as may chance to be outside 

 the holes soon fly off to the sea, and join the hosts 

 of birds that swarm in the water near every 

 breeding station. Those in the burrows, however, 

 remain, allowing themselves to be dragged out 

 without making any attempt to escape. Great 

 caution and gloves are recommended, for the Puffin 

 resents intrusion and bites fiercely, being able to 

 inflict a nasty cut with its powerful beak and sharp 

 claws. 



I still retain the most vivid impressions on my 

 visit to the grand colony of Puffins on Doon, one 

 of the St. Kilda group. Every available place 

 is honeycombed with their holes ; the ground 

 cannot afford accommodation for all, and numbers 

 of birds have to seek nesting places under the 



