KATUHALIST'S CABINET. 



Industry and courage. 



strength is exhausted before they can arrive at 

 their wished-for harbour*" 



The puffin, when it prepares for breeding, 

 (which always happens a few days after its arri- 

 val,) begins to scrape up a hole in the ground 

 not far from the shore, and when it has some 

 way penetrated the earth, it then throws itself 

 upon its back, and with its bill and claws thus 

 burrows inward, till it has dug a hole with several 

 windings and turnings, from eight to ten feet 

 deep. It particularly seeks to dig under a stone, 

 where it expects the greatest security. This is 

 chiefly the task of the males on which they are 

 so intent as to suffer themselves at that time to 

 be taken with the hand. Some, when there is 

 an opportunity, save themselves the trouble of 

 forming holes by dispossessing the rabbits of 

 theirs. In this fortified retreat the female lays 

 one white egg; which, though the bird be not 

 much bigger than a pigeon, is full the size of 

 that of a hen. 



The males likewise perform the office of sit- 

 ting, relieving their mates when they go to feed. 

 The young are hatched in the beginning of July. 

 "When the young one is excluded, the parents' 

 industry and courage are incredible. Few birda 

 or beasts will venture to attack them in their re- 

 treats. When the great sea-raven, as Jacobson 

 informs us, comes to take away their young, the 

 puffins boldly oppose him. Their meeting af- 

 6 







