BIKDS. 4(J! 



tack them in their retreats. When the great sea-raven, as 

 Jacobson informs us, comes to take away their young;, the puiiina 

 boldly oppose him. Their meeting affords a most singular com 

 bat. As soon as the raven approaches, the puffin catches him 

 under the throat with its beak, and sticks its claws into its breast, 

 which makes the raven, with a loud screaming, attempt to get 

 away; but the little bird still holds fast to the invader, nor lets 

 him go till they both come to the sea, where they drop do'*'n 

 together, and the raven is drowned ; yet the raven is but too 

 often successful ; and, invading the puffin at the bottom of its 

 hole, devours both the parent and its family. 



But were a punishment to be inflicted for immorality in ir- 

 rational animals, the puffin is justly a sufferer from invasion, as it 

 is often itself one of the most terrible invaders. Near the isle 

 of Anglesey, in an islet called Prienholm, their flocks may be 

 compared, for multitude, to swarms of bees. In another islet, 

 called the CJf of Man, a bird of this kind, but of a different 

 species, is seen in great abundance. In both places, numbers of 

 rabbits are found to breed; but the puffin, unwilling to be at the 

 trouble of niakinga hole, when there is one ready made, dispossess- 

 es the rabbits, and it is not unlikely destroys their young. It is in 

 these unjustly acquired retreats that the young puffins ai'e found 

 in great numbers, and become a very valuable acquisition to tiie 

 natives of the place. The old ones (I am now speakiiig of the 

 Manks puffin) early in the momiiig, at brealc of day, leave their 

 nests and young, and even the island, nor do they return till 

 night-fiill. All this time they are diligently employed in fishing 

 for their young ; so that their retreats on land, which in the 

 morning were loud and clamorous, are now still and quiet, with 

 not a wing stirring till the approach of dusk, when their screams 

 once more announce their return. Wliatever fish, or other food, 

 they have procured in the day, by night begins to suffer a kind of 

 h.df digestion, and is reduced to an oily matter, which is ejected 

 from the stomach of the old ones into the mouth of the young. 

 By this they are nourished, and become fat to an amazing degree. 

 When they are arrived to their full grov\'th, they who are in 

 trusted by the lord of the island, draw them from their holes ; 

 and, that they may more readily keej) an account of the number 

 they take, cut off one foot as a token. Their flesh is said to be 

 cxcessivclv rank, as they feed upon lish, especially sprats, and 



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