ALCID^ — PHALERIDINM: PUFFINS. 803 



claws black. Length 13.50; extent 24.00; wing 6.50; tail 2.25; tarsus 1.00; middle toe 

 alone 1.40, its claw 0.40; outer do. 1.40, its claw 0.30; inner do. 1.00, its claw 0.40 (its chord 

 — the curve more) ; chord of culraen 2.00, its arc 2.10, the ordinate 0.30; depth of bill 1.40; 

 gape 1.25 ; gonys 1.45 ; greatest width of bill (at base of nostrils) 0.60 ; nostrils 0.35. 9 av- 

 eraging less than (J. In winter: No colored eye-ring nor appendages of eyelids. Eosette of 

 miiuth shrunken and pale. Feet orange, not red. Face blackish around eye, the ashy-white 

 obscured with dusky. Basal parts of bill membranous and blackish, and whole base of biU 

 contracted, the point of the gonys cut off. The following pieces have been shed : 1, the basal 

 rim or collar ; 2, the nasal case or saddle ; 3, the mandibular case or shoe; 4, 5, the strips at 

 base of mandible, one on each side ; 6, 7, tlie subnasal strips, one on each side ; S, 9, the pre- 

 nasal strips, one on each side (3 symmetrical jiieccs, 3 paired pieces, 9 in all). Young, first 

 fall and winter : Resemble the adults in winter, but bill still weaker and less developed; the 

 plumage is the same, with blackish face. This long kept us in ignorance of the moult of the 

 bill, the adults in winter being mistaken for young birds by all authors till Bureau explained 

 the case. Inhabits the coasts and islands of the N. Atlantic, breeding in Iceland, Southern 

 Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland and S. to Bay of Fundy ; rare in the N. Pacific (Pallas), 

 where chiefly replaced l)y F. corniculata ; replaced on most of the European coast by a smaller 

 weaker-billed variety, and in Polar Seas by the larger stouter-billed F. ijlacialis. In winter, 

 ranging or driven south irregularly along most of the U. S. ; not regular beyond New England. 

 Tlie moult of the bill as well as of the plumage occurs in August and September, when the 

 birds are unable to fly for a period, and many perish if caught at sea in storms at tliis time. 

 Nest by thousands on coasts and islands, burrowing in the ground like rabbits, to arm's length 

 or more. The single egg is laid late in June and in July, on a slight grassy nest at the end of 

 the burrow ; in shape rounded ovate, with greatest diameter nearly at the middle ; average size 

 2.50 X 1-75 ; shell granular, white or brownish-wliite, colorless fir mai'ked with obsolete 

 spots, dots, and scratches of pale purplish, S(,imetimes with a few splashes of pale yellowish- 

 brown. Nestlings are covered with blackish down, whitish below from the breast. 

 855. F. a. glacia'Us. (Lat. glacialis, icy.) Laege-billed Puffin. Specific character of 

 F. arctica ; size greater, the bill especially larger, and difl'erently shaped. Protuberance 

 of upper eyelid higher and sliarper. Bill very deep, rising high on forehead, with very convex 

 ouhnen, dropping nearly perpendicularly at end. Four grooves of upper and three of lower, 

 distinct; gonys quite convex. Length 14.50; extent 26.00; wing 7.25; tail 2.25; tarsus 

 1.20 ; middle toe and claw 1.90, outer do. 1.90, inner do. 1.45 ; chord of culmen 2.40, its arc 

 2.60, the ordmate 0.45; depth of bill at base 1.70; gape 1.50; gonys 1.60; greatest width 

 of bill 0.65; nasal slit 0.45. Polar Seas; Spitzbergen ; N. Greenland. Not authentic as 

 occurring in the U. S. The seasonal changes are in all respects the same as those of 

 F. arctica. 

 338. LXJN'DA. (Vox barb.) Tufted Masking Puffin. Generic character of Fratercula, ex- 

 cepting crest, eyelids, and details of bill. A long tuft of feathers on each side f)f head. Eye- 

 lids not appendaged. Nostrils very small, linear, marginal. Upper mandilde divided into 

 distinct but not difi'ereutly colored compartments ; its base with a deciduous raised rim or 

 collar, perforated for the passage of feathers as in Frrifercida, but this collar not so prominent, 

 and the deciduous smooth basal saddle not sii distinctly separated from the ridged part of the 

 bill beyond, where are three well marked, widely separated curved grooves, concave forward 

 (the reverse of Fratercula'). Culmen arched in two separate curves, the basal one surmounted 

 by a prominent widened ridge-pole, ending abruptly, the terminal one sharp, strongly convex 

 to the hooked tip of the hill. Lower mandible with the sides perfectly smooth throughout, the 

 outline of gonys at first descending, then rounding upward and thence about straight to tip of 

 bill; the base of the mandible with a narrow deciduous border ; ordinarily no evidence of the 

 existence of the deciduous shoe of the lower mandible. The parts of the bill moulted are the 



