PUFFIN. 133 



young Puffin with its crop distended, and he killed the bird to 

 find out what the food was. The crop contained forty-one 

 small fish, which have been identified as the young of the 

 Lancelet (Ammodytes lanceolatus). Mr. Drane says that he has 

 seen Puffins in thousands feeding almost entirely on this fish, 

 which seemed to constitute their chief food. Marine insects 

 and crustaceans are also eaten. 



From its curious bill and large head the Puffin is often 

 called the "Sea Parrot." It is a bird of rapid flight, and 

 a most expert swimmer and diver, but is very awkward on 

 land. 



For a good account of its habits, I have resorted to the 

 writings of the late Dr. A. E. Brehm on the bird-rocks of 

 Lapland : 



*' The farther we went, the more magnificent became the 

 spectacle. The whole hill was alive. Hundreds of thousands 

 of eyes looked down upon us intruders. From every hole 

 and corner, from every peak and ledge, out of every cleft, 

 burrow, or opening, they hurried forth, right, left, above, 

 beneath ; the air, like the ground, teemed with birds. From 

 the sides and from the summit of the berg thousands threw 

 themselves like a continuous cataract into the sea in a throng 

 so dense that they seemed to the eye to form an almost 

 solid mass. Thousands came, thousands went, thousands 

 fluttered in a wondrous mazy dance ; hundreds of thousands 

 flew, hundreds of thousands swam and dived, and yet other 

 hundreds of thousands awaited the footsteps which should 

 rouse them also. There was such a swarming, whirring, 

 rustling, dancing, flying, and creeping all about us that we 

 almost lost our senses j the eye refused duty, and his wonted 

 skill failed even the marksman who attempted to gain a prize 

 at random among the thousands. Bewildered, hardly con- 

 scious, we pushed on our way until at length we reached the 

 summit. Our expectation here at last to regain quietness, 

 composure, and power of observation, was not at once 

 realised. Even here there was the same swarming and 

 whirring as further down the slope, and the cloud of birds 

 around us was so thick that we only saw the sea dimly and 

 indefinitely as in twilight. But a pair of Jerfalcons, who had 

 their eyrie in a neighbouring precipice, and had seen the 



