wo 



HISTORY OF 



are frequently obliged to make three or fojr efforts, before tliey 

 Clin come at the place of incubation. For this reason, the auk 

 and guillemot, when they have once laid their single egg, which 

 is extremely large for the size, seldom forsake it until it is ex- 

 cluded. The male, who is better furnished for flight, feeds tlie 

 ftmale during this interval ; and so bare is the place where she 

 sits, that the egg would often roll down from the rock, did not 

 the body of the bird support it. 



But the puffin seldom chooses these inaccessible and trouble- 

 some heights for its situation. Relying on its courage and the 

 strength of its bill, with which it bites most terribly, it either 

 makes or finds a hole in the ground, where to lay and bring forth 

 its young. All the winter these birds, like the rest, are absent ; 

 visiting regions too remote for discovery. At the latter end of 

 March, or the beginning of April, come over a troop of their 

 spies or harbingers, that stay two or three days, as it were to 

 view and search out for their former situations, and see whether 

 all be well. This done, they once more depart ; and about the 

 beginning of May, return again with the whole army of their 

 companions. But if the season happens to be stormy and tem- 

 pestuous, and the sea troubled, the unfortunate voyagers undergo 

 incredible hardships ; and they are found, by hundreds, cast 

 away upon the shores, lean and perished with famine." It is 

 most probable, therefore, that this voyage is performed more on 

 the water than in the air ; and as they cannot fish in stormy 

 weather, their strength is exhausted before they can arrive at 

 their wished-for harbour. 



The puffin, when it prepares for breeding, which always hap- 

 pens a few days after its arrival, begins to scrape up a hole ii» 

 the ground not far from the shore ; and when it has some way 

 penetrated the earth, it then throws itself upon its back, and 

 with bill and claws thus burrows inward, till it has dug a hole 

 with several windings and turnings, from eight to ten feet deej). 

 It particularly seeks to dig under a stone, where it expects the 

 greatest security. In this fortified retreat it lays one egg ; whicli, 

 though the bird be not much bigger than a pigeon, is of the size 

 of a hen's. 



When the young one is excluded, the parent's industry and 

 courage is incredible. Few birds or beasts will venture to at- 



1 Willdiigliby's Oinjtli. p. 3.'6. 



