228 BRITISH BIRDS. 



they are met with in greater abundance in the 

 north. In the Hebrides, and other islands with 

 which the seas of Scotland are dotted, they are 

 caught by the natives in great numbers, and used 

 for the same purposes as the Fulmar. 



Willoughby, whose excellent Ornithology has 

 thrown so much light on this branch of natural 

 history, and cleared the paths for subsequent 

 wTiters, gives the following account of the coming 

 of these birds to breed in the Isle of Man : 



"At the south end of the Isle of Man lies a 

 little islet, divided from Man by a narrow channel, 

 called the Calf of Man, on which are no habita- 

 tions but only a cottage or two, lately built. This 

 islet is full of rabbits, which the Puffins, coming 

 yearly, dislodge, and build in their burrows. They 

 lay each but one egg" before they sit, like the 

 Razor-bill and Guillem, although it be the com- 

 mon persuasion that they lay two at a time, of 

 which the one is always addle." "The old ones 

 early in the morning, at break of day, leave their 

 nests and young, and the island itself, and spend the 

 whole day in fishing at sea, never returning or once 

 setting foot on the island before evening twilight : 

 so that all the day the island is so quiet and still 

 from all noise as if there were not a bird about 

 it." He observes that they feed the young ones 

 from the contents of their loaded stomachs during 

 the night, that they become extremely fat, and 

 are taken and salted down for keeping, and that 

 the Romish church permitted them to be eaten 

 in lent. He adds, further, respecting the young 

 ones : "When they come to their growth, they 

 who are entrusted by the lord of the island (the 



