222 ALCID^. 



Larue Harbour, county Antrim, are said to have been resorted to 

 by numbers of these birds, annually, for the purpose of breeding, 

 until of late years, when, owing to the erection of lighthouses, 

 the puffins ceased to visit them.* One of the names by which 

 they were known there, and at the Gobbins, where they occa- 

 sionally appeared, was Ailsa-cock, an appellation applied to them 

 in the south-west of Scotland, and derived from their haunt 

 on the Ayrshire coast.f Dr. J. D. Marshall, who visited the 

 island of Ratlilin, off the Giant^s Causeway, in June 1834, in- 

 forms us that — " These birds breed in great numbers at the 

 Bull Point and headlands adjoining, where the rocks are based 

 with mould, and intersected and covered here and there with 

 patches of grass ; thus affording them facilities for scooping out 

 their nests. These we found wherever the earth appeared among 

 the rocks. They excavate or burrow in the mould to the depth 

 of two or three feet; and, at the extremity of the excavation, 

 the egg, which is white and about the size of a hen^s, is deposited 

 on the bare earth. J From being surrounded by the damp mould, 

 it appears, when taken from the hole, of a dirty brown, but, on 

 being washed, acquires its natural colour. The puffins seemed 

 equally numerous as the razor-bills ; they took possession of the 

 earthy parts, while the latter sat close beside them on all the bare 

 ledges of rock not otherwise occupied. These birds, with a 

 few guillemots, were met with in considerable numbers along 



* So early as the 24th of June, 1848, I was surprised to observe a young pufEu 

 of almost full adult size among the rejectamenta of the sea at Craigavad, Belfast 

 Bay. Though exhibiting no appearance of having been injured, it remained within a 

 yard of me, regardless of my presence, for a few minutes ; but the sight of my dog 

 running towards me frightened it out to sea. 



When crossing from Groomsport to the IMew Island, at the entrance of this bay, on 

 July 16, 1850, we saw two of these birds in company on the water, one of which 

 flew off at rather too great a distance to be fired at ; but the other, not following its 

 example, was shot. It proved to be a young bird of the year, and appeared equal in 

 size to the other, which was probably its pai'ent, as the bright orange red legs 

 marked it to be an adult when it rose on wing. The young bird had pale flesh-colom'ed 

 legs, and its bill had not attained full size. 



t The promontory of Oe, in Islay, is also annually v'isited by pufSns. 



\ I leai-n fi'om Dr. Marshall, that the puffins' burrows here must have been of their 

 own making, the place being of such a nature that rabbits could not get either up or 

 down to feedins-ground from it. 



