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THE TUFTED PUFFIN. 



Mormon cirrhatus, Temm. 



PLATE CCXLIX. Male. 



The specimen from which I drew the figure of this singular looking 

 bird, was procured at the mouth of the Kennebeck River, in Maine. It 

 was shot by a fisherman gunner, while standing on some floating ice, in 

 the winter of 1831-32. No other individual was seen. I could not obtain 

 any information respecting its habits ; but as the bird was in tolerable 

 order, I hope that my figures of it will prove not unacceptable. It was a 

 male, and appeared to be adult. My friend, the Prince of Musignano, 

 mentions this species as being an inhabitant of the seas between North 

 America^and Kamtschatka, being, he adds, often found on the western 

 coasts of the United States in winter. 



Alca cierhata, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 791- 



Mormon cirrhatus, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 429. 



Tufted Mormon or Puffin, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 539. 



Adult Male. Plate CCXLIX. Fig. 1, 2. 



Bill about the length of the head, nearly as high as long, extremely 

 compressed, at the base as high as the head, furrowed on the sides. Up- 

 per mandible with a horny rixn along the basal margin, its dorsal line con- 

 vex to the middle, or along the extent of a long, narrow, rounded dorsal 

 prominence, which extends from the base to the first groove, afterwards 

 curved in the fourth of a circle, the ridge narrow, in its basal half round- 

 ed, narrower and rather sharp towards the end, the sides slightly convex, 

 and marked with four curved transverse grooves, between the nostril and 

 the tip, the edges rather blunt, nearly straight until close to the decurved, 

 narrow, obtuse tip. The basal rim is scrobiculate, the rest of the mandi- 

 ble smooth. The nostrils are linear, direct, close to the edge, and near 

 the base. Lower mandible with the angle extremely short and narrow, 

 the dorsal line nearly straight and ascending, the sides slightly concave, 

 without grooves, the ridge narrow but convex, the tip very narrow, ob- 



