142 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



and then three grooves and four ridges of orange ; the 

 skin at the gape is naked and yellow ; the iris is grey ; the 

 ear-coverts are dirty white, and so are the cheeks 

 and chin ; while the forehead, crown, back of head, 

 the collar round the neck, the wings, back, and tail are 

 black. The under parts of the body are entirely white. 

 The legs and toes are orange colour, the latter being 

 webbed; the claws are curved, and the wings small, and 

 tail short. When standing, the Puffin rests upon 

 the whole of the leg and foot from the heel down- 

 wards, and this arrangement naturally produces, when 

 the bird is walking, a waddling sort of gait, which is 

 ungraceful in the extreme. The length of the Puffin is 

 about twelve inches, and there is no apparent difference in 

 the appearance of the different sexes. 



This bird is gregarious and migratory. It arrives on 

 our coasts generally about the beginning of April, and 

 remains with us until the end of August or early in 

 September, congregating in enormous numbers, or colonies, 

 in many well-known localities. It is purely a sea-bird, 

 and is therefore to be found principally on cliffs and high 

 rocks, or upon the flat grassy table-land found frequently 

 upon their summits. The localities most commonly visited 

 by Puffins are the Isle of Man, the coast of Anglesey, 

 the Scilly Islands, some parts of the Isle of Wight, the 

 Fern Islands, Puffin Island in the Firth of Forth, and 

 many of the Scottish isles. 



The process of nest-building is not an occupation upon 

 which the Puffin spends either time or trouble, as it 

 generally breeds in a burrow (excavated by itself or 

 purloined from a rabbit) , or else the egg is deposited in a 

 crevice on the perpendicular front of a cliff. The burrow 



