310 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Puffin {Fratercula arctica).- — I think L'Etac is their only breeding 

 haunt, being the only suitable islet providing a sufficient amount of 

 soft earth in which to make their burrows. As we landed the Puffins 

 flew out, and wheeled round and round this limpet- shaped dependency 

 almost as thick as flies. This was on May 29th, and our boatmen 

 thought we were too early for eggs, but in this they were both 

 assuredly wrong, for the Puffin is not a late nester ; and, after feeling 

 about in a great many of their tunnels, and finding only one egg, and 

 that very stained and hard-set, I was fully convinced that instead of 

 being too early, the great business of the year was practically over. 

 I caught one in its burrow, and it offered not the slightest resistance. 

 At close quarters the Puffin is a grotesque little creature, and it was 

 with much interest that we had a somewhat convincing demonstration 

 with regard to the wonderful power of its adze-shaped bill. A piece 

 of stick was selected, and the mandibles fastened on it like a vice, and 

 brought home to one the undesirability of having one's finger sub- 

 stituted for the stick. The sitting bird always squats in the hole, 

 with its head towards the entrance, and feeling about in the hole 

 is best done with a gloved hand, and, on touching the bird, immedi- 

 ately grasp it firmly by the head before pulling it out, and then such 

 a calamity as experienced by the stick will be averted as regards the 

 human finger. 



