262 cassell's book of birds. 



voice is described as a feeble croak. These birds were never known to defend their eggs, but when 

 laid hold of would bite severely. Their adroitness in the water was such that Mr. Bullock, as related 

 by Montagu, followed one of them about for hours in a six-oared boat without being able to get near 

 it. The food of the Great Auk consisted entirely of fishes. The single egg laid by the female was 

 deposited in June ; in size, this egg exceeded that of any other European species, being upwards of 

 five inches long ; the shell was thick, lustreless, coarse, and of a dirty white, variously marked with 

 brown and black. The male and female, we are told, sat alternately upon their eggs : the young were 

 at first covered with dark grey down, and soon found their way into the water. 



THE COULTERNEB, OR ARCTIC PUFFIN. 



The Coulterneb, or Arctic Puffin (Mormon fratercula), one of the most remarkable birds we 

 have yet described, although an inhabitant of northern regions, is a regular summer visitant to our 

 own, where it is known by a great variety of names all indicative of the strangeness of its appearance, 

 such as the "Pope," "Mullet," "Sea Parrot," "Jammie," and the " Nome." The Coulterneb is at 

 once recognisable from all its brethren by the peculiar structure of its beak, the shortness of its neck, 

 and the shape of its head. Its bill, when seen in profile, has a somewhat triangular shape, being high 

 at the base, and remarkably compressed at its sides ; at its origin it is covered with a thick fold of skin 

 which is prolonged around the comer of the mouth ; its anterior is deeply furrowed, rather obtuse at 

 its tip, and very sharply edged. In this last respect the beak cannot be compared with that of any 

 other bird. The feet are three-toed, strongly webbed, and provided with sharp claws, the points of 

 which are turned sideways ; the small feeble wing is rounded at its extremity, and the short tail 

 composed of sixteen feathers. The plumage on the upper parts of the body is short, thick, compact, 

 and smooth, whilst underneath it is somewhat longer, and more fur-like in appearance. The top of 

 the head, a band around the neck, and the entire mantle are black ; the cheeks and throat ash-grey. 

 The under parts of the body are white shading to grey or black at the sides. The eye is dark brown, 

 eye-ring coral-red, beak pale red at its tip, lighter in the furrows, and blueish grey towards the base ; 

 the corner of the mouth is orange-yellow, and the foot vermilion-red. The young birds are 

 distinguishable by the comparative shallowness of their beaks, and the inferior brilliancy of their 

 colours. This strange bird is twelve inches long, and twenty-three to twenty-three and a half broad ; 

 the wing measures six inches and a half to six and three-quarters, and the tail two inches and three- 

 quarters. 



The Coulternebs inhabit the northern seas as far as 82 ° north latitude, and are met with 

 equally upon the northern coasts of Europe, Asia, and America; a few pairs are known to breed in 

 Heligoland; further north they become more abundant, and in the Frozen Ocean they swim in 

 countless multitudes ; indeed, millions of them may be seen in the summer-time crowding the vicinity 

 of their breeding-places. In Great Britain they appear on the coast about April, and betake 

 themselves to various stations for the purpose of breeding, frequenting for this purpose the cliffs or 

 turfy ground above them, and occasionally making use of rabbit-burrows. The Isles of Man, 

 Anglesea, and Wight, are all frequented by them, and also the Scilly Isles, which in the fourteenth 

 century were held under the king for the annual payment of six shillings and eightpence or 300 

 Puffins. The Yorkshire coast, the Fem Islands, and the coasts and islands of Scotland are also 

 frequented by them. 



" On the coast of Labrador," says Audubon, " is Perroquet Island, known to all the cod-fishers, 

 and celebrated for the number of Puffins that annually breed there. As we rowed towards 

 it, although we found the water literally covered with thousands of these birds, the number that 

 flew over and around the green island seemed much greater, insomuch that one might have imagined 



