242 COMMON OR ARCTIC PUFFIN. 



large stones, I observed that the Puffins often flew from one crag or stone to 

 another, alighting with ease, and then standing erect. 



The young, while yet covered with down, are black, with a white patch 

 on the belly. Their bills do not acquire much of the form which they 

 ultimately have for several weeks; nor do they assume their perfect shape 

 for years. I have examined many hundred individuals, among which I 

 have found great differences in the size and form of the bill. In fact, the 

 existence of this diversity has induced many persons to think that we have 

 several species of Puffin on our coasts; but, after having examined many 

 specimens in Europe, I am decidedly of opinion that this species is the same 

 that occurs in both continents, and that we have only one more at all 

 common on our eastern coasts. The sexes differ in no perceptible degree, 

 only that the males are somewhat larger. When two years old they may 

 be considered of their full size, although the bill continues to grow and 

 acquires furrows, until it becomes as you see it in the plate. 



Mormon arcticus, Bonap. Syn., p. 430. 



Puffin or Coulterneb, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 542. 



Puffin, Mormon arcticus, Aud. Orn. Biog\, vol. iii. p. 105. 



Male, llf, 23. 



Ranges southward along the coast in winter, at times as far as Georgia. 

 Less rare from Long Island eastward, and becomes plentiful in the Bay of 

 Fundy. Breeds in vast numbers in burrows, on the islands off Labrador. 



Adult Male in summer. 



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

 compressed, at the base as high as the head, obliquely furrowed on the sides. 

 Upper mandible with a horny rim along the basal margin, its dorsal line 

 curved from the base, the ridge very narrow but rounded, the sides rapidly 

 sloped, and marked with three curved oblique grooves, the edges obtuse, 

 their outline nearly straight, the tip deflected, very narrow but obtuse. 

 Between the basal rim and the first groove is a triangular flat space analogous 

 to the nasal groove, in the lower part of which, close to the edge of the bill, 

 is the linear direct nostril. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow, 

 and so placed that the base of the bill is inflected beyond the perpendicular, 

 the dorsal line a little convex at first, towards the end straight, the ridge 

 narrow, broader about the middle, the sides nearly flat, grooved and ridged 

 as in the upper, the edges strong, the tip very narrow. The gap extends 

 downwards a little beyond the base of the bill, and is furnished with a soft 

 corrugated extensible membrane. 



Head large, oblong, anteriorly compressed. Eye rather small, with bare 



