LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 97 
Food.—Mr. Ekblaw says: 
It feeds upon the same kind of food as does the murre—fish, crustacea, etc., 
especially upon a species which, from the Eskimo description, Fabricius trans- 
lates as “‘ Pulex maris alti rostro serrato.” 
Behavior—The Eskimo say that the puffin is not at all shy. It does not dive, 
when out on the sea, until it is approached very near. It generally feeds in 
pairs on the water. It flies about as fast as a murre. In season, the Eskimo 
women frequently catch it in their nets, when they are out on the cliffs pri- 
marily for murres. 
This puffin seems to be in part a migrant; but not much is known concern- 
ing its times, route, or extent of migration. Certainly it is found even in 
winter in Greenland waters. It comes to the Cape York district at the same 
time as the murres, generally in company with them, about the 10th of May, 
It leaves about the same time as the murres, in late August. It lives mostly 
out on the open sea. 
It is rather strange that so little is known about the migrations 
and winter home of this subspecies. There seem to be no satisfactory 
records for North America, outside of Greenland, and I could never 
understand why Greenland should be considered as faunally a part 
of our Continent, 
DISTRIBUTION. 
Breeding range.—Coasts and islands of the Arctic Ocean from cen- 
tral western Greenland (Baffin Bay; Disco Bay, north to Smith 
Sound) east to Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla. Some Greenland 
records of F. a. arctica undoubtedly apply to this form, while 
records of naumanni from northern Labrador are doubtful. Audu- 
bon’s record from Grand Manan with little doubt refers to arctica. 
Winter range-—Unknown. Probably not far from its breeding 
grounds if open water occurs. 
Egg dates.—Greenland: 16 records, June 1 to July 16; 9 records, 
June 19 to 20. 
FRATERCULA CORNICULATA (Naumann). 
HORNED PUFFIN, 
HABITS. 
This name seems somewhat misleading and not particularly ie 
propriate, for the so-called horn over the eye is not horny at all, but 
merely a soft epidermal papilla full of living tissue, which the 
bird can raise or lower at will; moreover a similar, but smaller, ex- 
cresence is found in the Atlantic puffin. The horned puffin is essen- 
tially an Alaskan and a Bering Sea bird, being found breeding 
throughout the whole length of the Alaskan coast, from Cape Lis- 
burne, north of the Arctic Circle, south nearly to British Columbia; 
it also breeds westward throughout the Aleutian Islands and on all 
the coasts and islands.of Bering Sea. It would seem as if the name 
