236 



THE LARGE-BILLED PUFFIN. 



Mormon glacialis, Leach. 



PLATE CCCCLXIIL— Male. 



Although my learned friend Prince Charles Bonaparte says in his 

 Synopsis of the Birds of the United States, that this species is not uncom- 

 mon in winter on our coast, I have only once met with it, and even then I 

 rather supposed than was actually certain that the birds observed were 

 Large-billed Puffins. They occurred on the outer side of the Island of 

 Grand Manan, at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy. None were seen by 

 myself or my companions on our way to Labrador, or in that country, so 

 that I am unable to say anything respecting the habits of this remarkable 

 bird. The specimens from which my figures were taken were kindly lent 

 to me by Mr. Gould of London, whose name must be familiar to you as a 

 successful cultivator of Ornithology. 



Mormon glacialis, Bonap. Syn., p. 430. 



Large-billed Puffin, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 541. 



Large-billed Pdffin, Mormon glacialis, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 599. 



Male, 13, 24^. 



Very rare, and in winter only, off the Bay of Fundy. 



Adult Male. 



Bill about the length of the head, nearly as high as long, exceedingly 

 compressed, at the base higher than the head, obliquely furrowed on the 

 sides. Upper mandible with a horny rim along the incurved basal margin, 

 its dorsal line irregularly curved from the base, the ridge very narrow but 

 rounded, the sides rapidly sloping, and marked with three curved oblique 

 grooves, the edges strong, rather sharp, their outline nearly straight, the tip 

 deflected, very narrow, but obtuse. Between the basal rim and the first 

 groove is a triangular flat space, in the lower part of which, close to the edge 

 of the mandible, is the linear direct nostril. Lower mandible with the 

 angle narrow, and so placed that the base is inflected much beyond the 

 perpendicular, the dorsal line irregularly curved, towards the end ascending 

 and nearly straight, the ridge narrow, broader about the middle, the sides 



