AUK. 59 



Arktiscbe Alk, Schmid, Vog. p. 162. t. 139. Bechst. Dents, iv. 723. 



Puffin, Gen. Syn. v. 314. Br. Zool.W. No. 232. ld.fol. 135. pi. H. Id. 1812. ii. 



152. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 427. Tour in Wales, ii. pi. 20. Wilt. Engl. p. 235. pi. 



65. f. Hist. Groenl. ii. pi. 1. Albin, ii. pi. 78, 79. ZWw. pi. 358. f. 1. Bewick, 



ii. pi. p. 168. Lewin, vi. pi. 225. Id. pi. xlvii. f. 2. — the egg. Donov. i. pi. 8. 



WWc. i. pi. 87. Pult. Dors. p. 17. Orn. Diet, fy Supp. Graves, Orn. ii. 



SIZE of a Teal ; length twelve inches or more ; weight twelve or 

 thirteen ounces. The bill of a singular shape, one inch and a quarter 

 long, much compressed, and near one inch and a half deep at the 

 base, from whence both mandibles tend in an arched manner to the 

 point, where it is a little curved ; across the upper are four oblique 

 furrows, on the under three ; half of the bill, from the point, is red, 

 the base half blue grey, and at the base a sort of elevated cere, full 

 of minute holes ; the nostrils are a long, and narrow slit on each side, 

 near the edge of the upper mandible, and parallel to it; the irides 

 greyish hazel ; edges of the eyelids crimson ; on the upper a callous, 

 triangular protuberance, on the under an oblong one of the same 

 texture; the top of the head, neck behind, and all the upper parts 

 of the plumage are black, passing round the throat in a collar; the 

 sides of the head, chin, and all beneath pure white ; quills dusky ; 

 tail short, composed of sixteen feathers; legs placed very backward,^ 

 orange ; the claws back. 



The male and female are much alike, but in some birds there is 

 a great portion of a dusky mixture on the cheeks, and a patch of the 

 same on each side of the under jaw. The Puffin is observed to vary 

 exceedingly in the bill, owing to different periods of age; in the first 

 year it is small, weak, without any furrow, and of a dusky colour; 

 in the second larger, stronger, pale, with a faint appearance of a 



* Among- the various authors who have figured this bird, some have represented it swim- 

 ming, and others as resting not only on the feet, but on the back part of the shins also, 

 propped up behind with the tail. We have never seen this bird in a living state, but the late 

 Rev. Hugh Davies, of Beaumaris, assured me, that the bird, though sufficiently awkward 

 in its gait as to walking, can do so, by means of the feet only, as in the Duck ; though 

 most certainly may be called an upright posture, in comparison with the last named. 



I 2 



