326 Account of the Mode in *whicJi 



freckles. The birds merely collect a few pieces of dried 

 grass, with a feather or two, barely sufficient to prevent the 

 eggs from rolling or moving on the rock. That of the Manks 

 puffin (the bird laying but one) is of a very round shape, and 

 uniformly white, very much resembling that of a hen. These 

 birds very often excavate a small hole, if the stratum is soft 

 enough to admit of it, like the common puffin {A'lca ^rctica 

 L.), by means of their small sharp claws, on the ground of 

 which they deposit their single eggs. 



The north-eastern side of the island is principally occupied 

 by the arctic gulls (Lestris parasiticus L.), which breed there 

 very plentifully upon the low and mossy levels, by the edge of 

 a small lake or pond. As the young were already hatched, I 

 had an opportunity of observing them, several of which I 

 discovered concealed in the long grass ; and, although many 

 of them were covered with nothing but down, still the blue 

 legs and black toes were very distinct, which corroborated, 

 beyond all doubt, the surmises that the arctic gull and black- 

 toed gull (Lestris crepidatus L.) are the same : in fact, I after- 

 wards, in the other islands, shot many of them upon the 

 breeding grounds of the arctic gull. Some had not lost the 

 down off their heads, and were a beautiful light-brownish co- 

 lour, distinctly barred, and spotted with black ; and in some, as 

 the bird advanced in growth, the brown colour was gradually 

 disappearing, until, in many specimens, only a very few brown 

 marks were discernible ; the middle tail-feathers commenced 

 to elongate, and the bluish cast of the legs became darker, 

 and indistinctly blotched with blackish spots ; whence I am 

 led to conclude that they ultimately become black, and assume 

 the rough appearance peculiar to the Lestris genus. 

 I am, Sir, &c. 



Richard Drosier. 

 Morston, Holt, Norfolk, May 5. 



Art. IV. An Account of the Mode in which the common Frog 

 takes its Food, By the Rev. W. T. Bree, A.M. 



Sir, 

 I SUPPOSE there can be no one of your readers who has 

 not repeatedly seen the common frog ; and perhaps very few 

 of them, comparatively, who have ever seen the animal in the 

 act of taking his food. As I do not at this moment recollect 

 to have met with any particular account of the operation in 

 books of natural history, it occurs to me that a short notice of 



