432 THE BIRDS OF DEVON. 



before the eye, there is a vast Puffin population underground in their 

 innumerable burrows, which tunnel a few inches beneath the soil in all 

 directions, so that when the ground is sandy or friable the foot of the 

 visitor frequently slips through, causing panic to the patient bird brood- 

 ing over her freshly hatched young, or sitting on her white, grey- blotched, 

 egg. The Puffins as often dispossess the rabbits of their earths as they 

 dig out their own abodes. Sitting down among the sea-pinks, briar- 

 roses, and snow-white bladder campions, near the edge of a cliff, we have 

 contemplated with amusement the busy scene, having rows of the birds 

 perched within a few feet, staring at us inquisitively with their comical 

 little eyes. One day a snow-white Puffin, with only its wings black, 

 flew within a yard or two of where we were reclining, and we have seen 

 a perfect albino, but varieties appear to be rare. 



After the nesting-season is over (that is, about the beginning of August) 

 the Puffins leave the cliffs and spend the rest of the year far out upon 

 the sea, being oceanic birds, diving and (like the Auks and Guillemots) 

 flying after the fish beneath its surface. We have occasionally picked up 

 dead Puffins on the northern coasts of Devon and Cornwall, but have 

 found but few lying upon the sands at those seasons when a great 

 mortality has occurred among the other clift-birds. Young Puffins re- 

 semble immature Little Auks in having grey cheeks, and a curious fact 

 respecting the autumnal moulting of the adults of this species is their 

 shedding the horny covering of their strangely coloured beaks, which 

 after this moult become less in size and difterent in shape, as was ascer- 

 tained by Dr. Louis Bureau from observations on the coast of Brittany, 

 and communicated by him to the ' Transactions of the Zoological Society 

 of France.' There is an epitome of his paper, accompanied by an inter- 

 esting illustration, in the 'Zoologist' for 1878. The curious puckered 

 yellow skin, forming a kind of rosette on either side of the gape, is also 

 modified, so as almost to disappear, at the same time ; and another 

 change is effected in the region of the eyes, the horny patches of skin 

 above and below the orbits being lost until the following spring. 



Montagu saj's tlie Puffia occurs occasionally in winter in tbe south of Devonshire, 

 and mentions a specimen that was brought to him on February 27th, 1811 (Orn. 

 Diet.). Dr. E. Moore knew of only one obtained in Plymouth Harbour (Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. 1837). Bellamy speaks of a very young bird having been captured there (Nat. 

 Hist. S. Devon, p. 214), and auotber occurred July 24tb, 1855 ; an adult July (3th, 

 1857 ; and a young one August 8th, 1863 (B., MS. Notes). A fine specimen was 

 secured at Plymouth, January I5tb, 1853, and another on January 3rd, 1873 ; but 

 Mr. Gatcombe observes that its occurrence in winter is very uncommon on our 

 southern coast ('Naturalist,' 1853, p. 228; and MS. Notes). Mr. J. Brooking-Rowe 

 has two specimens from Plymouth Sound in his collection. One was obtained at 

 Plymouth, June 7th, 1872 ; one January 3rd, and another was found dead on the 

 beach February 5th, 1873 ; some off Plymouth in February 1874 ; one at the end of 

 July 188U (J. G., Zool. 1872, p. 31()7 ; 1873, p. 3445 ; 1874, p. 3944 ; 1881, p. 51). 



A young bird was shot in the mouth of the river Erme in July 1852 (J. B., 

 « Naturalist,' 1853, p. 204) ; specimens have also been met with at the mouth of the 

 Kingsbridge estuary (H. N.). 



We had an adult brought to us which was taken alive on Torbay, May 13th, 1853. 

 One was picked up dead on the beach near Torquay, February 'Jth, 1870, where Baron 

 A. von Hiigel observes that Puffins are unusual visitors (Zool. 1870, p. 2098). 



