THE PUFFIN. 261 



numbers on certain favourite spots, which they have 

 from time immemorial selected for themselves. One 

 of the most frequented spots for the latter is Puffin 

 Island, near Beaumaris; though further towards the 

 north, they are still more widely spread, and may he 

 found during the breeding-season, in still greater 

 abundance. They are often called Sea- Parrots, from 

 the peculiar form of the beak, capable of inflicting 

 very severe wounds, and of which they make 

 great use, sometimes to their own disadvantage, as 

 the following singular mode of taking them, which 

 does not seem confined to our own country, will 

 fully prove. 



" In Iceland," says Dr. Henderson, in his mis- 

 sionary travels to that island, " they are caught by 

 means of a hook fastened to the end of a stick ; and 

 what is singular, when one is dragged out, his com- 

 panions take hold of him, and endeavour to retain 

 him ; by which means they are often caught to the 

 number of three or four at a time." 



" In Norway," says Colonel Brooke, " Puffins 

 breed in great numbers on the rocks ; and the mode 

 of catching them is precisely the same as that 

 adopted in the northern parts of Great Britain, 

 with the exception, that a dog is trained to the 

 sport. The Puffins sitting together in prodigious 

 numbers in the deep holes and clefts of the highest 

 rocks, one of these little dogs is sent in, which 

 seizes the first by the wing. This, to prevent being 

 carried away, lays hold with its strong beak of the 

 bird next to it, which, in like manner, seizes its 

 neighbour, and the dog continuing to draw them 

 out, an extraordinary string of these birds falls into 



