( 599 ) 



THE LARGE-BILLED PUFFIN. 



"^ Mormon glacialis^ Leach. 



PLATE CCXCIII. Male. 



Although my learned friend Prince Charles Bonapaete says in 

 his Synopsis of the Birds of the United States, that this species is not un- 

 common in winter on our coast, I have only once met with it, and even 

 then I rather supposed than was actually certain that the birds observed 

 were Large-billed Puffins. They occurred on the outer side of the Island 

 of Grand Manan, at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy. None were seen 

 by myself or my companions on our way to Labrador, or in that country, 

 so that I am unable to say any thing respecting the habits of this re- 

 markable bird. The specimens from which my figures were taken were 

 kindly lent to me by Mr Gould of London, whose name must be fami- 

 liar to you as a successful cultivator of Ornithology. 



Mormon gxacialis, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 430. 

 Large-billed Puffin, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 541. 



Adult Male. Plate CCXCIII. Fig. 1. 



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

 compressed, at the base higher than the head, obliquely furrowed on the 

 sides. Upper mandible with a horny rim along the incurved basal mar- 

 gin, its dorsal line irregularly curved from the base, the ridge very narrow 

 but rounded, the sides rapidly sloping, and marked with three curved 

 oblique grooves, the edges strong, rather sharp, their outline nearly straight, 

 the tip deflected, very narrow, but obtuse. Between the basal rim and 

 the first groove is a triangular flat space, in the lower part of which, close 

 to the edge of the mandible, is the linear direct nostril. Lower mandi- 

 ble with the angle narrow, and so placed that the base is inflected mucli 

 beyond the perpendicular, the dorsal line irregularly curved, towards the 

 end ascending and nearly straight, the ridge narrow, broader about the 

 middle, the sides nearly flat and grooved, the edges strong, the tip very 

 narrow. The gape extends downwards a little beyond the base of the 

 bill, and is furnished with a soft corrugated extensible membrane. 



Head large, oblong, anteriorly compressed. Eyes of moderate size, 



