146 AUKS, MURRES, AND PUFFINS 



to a Japanese bird-kite. In flight the Puffin's wings move more rapidly 

 than those of the Murre and Razorbill, and unlike those birds it stands 

 only on its toes, and can run about easily and rapidly. 



While Murres and Razorbills usually resort to rocky islets whose 

 ledges and crannies afford nesting-sites, Puffins may use low-lying, flat 

 islands in the turf of which they excavate their burrows. It was a 

 surprising experience, in crossing an apparently deserted bit of ground 

 on the Fame Islands, to have at nearly every step dozens of Puffins 

 burst from the earth at my feet. The only note I have heard from a 

 Puffin is a hoarse grunt or groan. Puffins can inflict serious wounds 

 with their powerful bill, which they use ferociously. 



1883. BREWSTEB, W., Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XXII, 407 (habits). 



13a. F. a. naumanni (Norton). LARGE-BILLED PUFFIN. Similar to 

 the preceding, but larger. W., 6'80-7'4q; B., 2'00-2'30 (B., B., and R.). 



Range. Coasts and islands of Arctic Ocean, from n. and w. Greenland 

 to Nova Zembla. 



The TUFTED PUFFIN (12 Lunda cirrhata) inhabits the North Pacific 

 from California to Alaska. The specimen figured by Audubon was said by 

 him to have been procured at the mouth of the Kennebec River, Maine. 

 It has also been recorded from Greenland. 



The ANCIENT MURRELET (21 Synthliboramphus antiquus) of the North 

 Pacific has been once recorded from Wisconsin. 



27. Cepphus grylle (Linn.). BLACK GUILLEMOT. Ads. in summer. 

 Sooty bla*k, lighter below and with slight greenish reflections above; lesser 

 wing-coverts and terminal half of the greater wing-coverts white, the basal 

 half of the greater coverts black; linings of the wings white. Ads. in winter. 

 Upperparts gray or black, the feathers all more or less tipped with white; 

 wings as in summer; underparts white. Im. Upperparts as in winter 

 adults; underparts white, mottled with black; wing-coverts tipped with 

 black. L., 13-00; W., 6'25; Tar., 1'25; B., T20. 



Range. Coasts of e. N. Am. and nw. Europe. In Am. breeds from s. 

 Greenland and Ungava to Maine; winters from Cumberland Sound s. to 

 Cape Cod and casually to N. J. ; accidental in Pa. 



Long Island, A. V. in winter, one record. 



Nest, in the crevices and fissures of cliffs and rocky places. Eggs, 2-3, 

 dull white, sometimes with a greenish tinge, more or less heavily spotted 

 with clear and obscure dark chocolate markings, more numerous, and 

 sometimes confluent at the larger end. 2' 18 x 1'40. Date, Grand Menan, 

 N. B., June 14. 



Whether in black summer or grayish winter plumage, the Guille- 

 mot's white wing-coverts on a black wing are a conspicuous and 

 unmistakable identification mark, whether the bird is swimming or 

 flying. 



Guillemots (in England this name is %plied to the Murre, Lomvia) 

 are not usually found in the great colonies of Murres and Puffins, but 

 nest apart by themselves. They stand on the whole foot of tarsus and 

 often sit or lie comfortably on their lower parts. When approached they 

 emit a high, squealing whistle, opening wide their coral-lined mouths. 

 They feed their young largely on sand-eels, and it is a common sight 

 to see them with a number of these fish hanging from the sides of their 



