398 ' The Plover-like Birds 



Puffin (Lunda cirrhata) there are even processes around the eyes which are 

 deciduous like the portions of the bill. 



Of the four species of Puffin known in this country, three are found in the 

 North Pacific and one in the North Atlantic. They are rather small birds from 

 eleven to fifteen inches long, and quite uniform black or sooty black above and 

 white or sooty grayish beneath. They are gregarious at all seasons of the year, 

 but especially so during the nesting time, which is mainly June and July. 

 The single white, sometimes faintly brownish spotted egg is deposited either 

 in a burrow excavated by the birds themselves, or in deep crevices among 

 the rocks. Their food consists largely of fish-eggs, crustaceans, etc. 



The Tufted Puffin (Lunda cirrhata), the only member of its genus, inhabits 

 the North Pacific, being especially abundant in the Bering Sea, and coming 

 south in winter as far as Lower California. It may be known from the others 

 by the presence of thick pendent tufts of long, silky, straw-colored feathers, 

 which spring from the sides of the head behind the eyes, and dark-colored, in- 

 stead of white, under parts. In summer the terminal half of the bill is bright 

 red and the basal portion yellowish olive, while in winter the basal portions are 

 covered with soft dusky brown skin. This species is extremely abundant on 

 the Commander Islands and Kamchatka, where it forms quite an important 

 article of food for the natives, who also employ the skins in making articles of 

 clothing. The return of the birds in spring is looked forward to with great 

 anticipation by the natives, who capture them in large numbers and in a very 

 simple manner. The following account is from Dr. Stejncger, who spent several 

 years in studying the birds of the far North: "Hundreds and thousands crossed 

 and recrossed the island, coming from all directions, and disappearing on the 

 opposite side, in order to return again and again. A wonderful sight ! The 

 black birds with their conspicuous white face-mark, their long and floating 

 ear-tufts bent like the horns of a ram, and the large green-and-red Colored beaks 

 and red legs, looked more like fantastic creatures of the tropics than inhabitants 

 of the less extravagant North. Their flight seemed to have no particular aim 

 except to view and review the spot where they were going to take up their summer 

 abode. Like black specks they rose from the horizon, heading for the island; 

 the nearer they came the bigger they grew, until they passed over us, disappearing 

 as specks again on the other side, and when first started nothing seemed to be 

 able to bring them out of their straight course. These clumsy -looking, puffy 

 birds possess, nevertheless, a very rapid flight. The natives take advantage 

 of these peculiarities," stationing themselves on the higher portions of the island 

 with a large net some four feet in diameter, fixed to a light pole ten or twelve 

 feet long. The net is suddenly thrown in front of a bird, flying as above described, 

 which being unable to avoid it by turning flies directly into it. 



The remaining species belong to the genus Fratercula, of which the Common 

 Puffin (F. arctica] inhabits the North Atlantic, ranging south in winter on the 

 American side to New Jersey, and to the Canary Islands on the European side. 

 It breeds more or less abundantly on the Bird Rocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 and in almost incredible numbers on St. Kilda, the famous bird rocks of the 



