60 AUK. 



furrow at the base ; but as the bird advances in years the bill is more 

 vivid, and increases in strength ; it is therefore supposed not to be 

 perfect, till the third year ; especially, as not a single one has been 

 observed at Priestholm, which had not the bill of full growth.* 



These birds frequent several parts of the Coasts of England, 

 appearing about their breeding places the first week in April, but 

 do not settle there immediately, as they go away, and return twice 

 or thrice, before the first week in May, when they burrow; but 

 many of them dislodge the rabbits from their holes, and save the 

 trouble of forming one of their own ; in the last case, they are so 

 intent on what they are about, as to be caught by the hand ; they 

 are also taken by ferrets, in the manner of rabbits ;f but where the 

 soil is scanty on the rocks, they are content to deposit a single white 

 egg, sometimes marked with a little cinereous, in a hole or crevice. 

 It has been remarked, that the male performs the greater part of the 

 task of forming burrows where necessary, and likewise assists in 

 incubation, which has been proved by observation ; the young are 

 hatched the beginning of July. About the 11th of August they 

 depart, but not completely ; for the young ones, which have been late 

 hatched, are deserted, and left a prey to the Peregrine Falcon, who 

 watches at the mouth of the holes, till they, through hunger, are 

 compelled to come out. Notwithstanding this appearance of neglect, 

 no bird is more attentive in general, the female suffering herself to 

 be taken, in defence of the young; biting, with savage fierceness, the 

 hands, or any other part of the person who seizes it, as if actuated 

 by despair; and if released, instead of flying away, will often hurry 

 again into the burrows, to the young : about two years since, one 

 was caught alive in the middle of the town of Newbury. J The food 

 chiefly consists of sprats, and the smaller kind of crabs, shrimps, 

 and sea weeds ; the flesh is excessively rank, yet the young ones are 



* See Tour in Wales, ii. p. 252. pi. 20. for figure of the bill in the different stages, 

 f Breed in vast numbers in Iceland. — Hooker's Tour, p. 36. J Dr. Lamb. 



