'248 KATUKALISTS CABINET. 



Remarks by the Rev. H. Davies. 



Hugh Davies, of Aber, in Caernarvonshire, on 

 the different forms of the bills, among the thou- 

 sands of this species, which, in the year 1776, 

 were wrecked on the Welsh coast near Criccieth, 

 it appears certain that the puffins do not breed 

 till their third year. He saw the beach, for 

 miles, covered with dead birds ; among which 

 wer<? puffins, razor-bills, guillemots, and kitti- 

 wakes ; as well as tarrocks, gannets, wild geese, 

 bernacles, brent geese, scoters, and tufted ducks. 

 This unusual accident he conjectured to be owing 

 to a severe storm of frost that had overtaken 

 both the migrants and re-migrants. From the 

 puffins he here found, he remarked the different 

 forms of their bills in their several periods of 

 life; Those that he supposes to have been of the 

 first year, were small, weak, destitute of any fur- 

 row, and of a dusky colour ; those of the second 

 year were considerably stronger and larger, 

 lighter coloured, and with a faint rudiment of a- 

 furrow at the base; those of the more advanc- 

 ed years had vivid colours, and were of great 

 strength. 



THE NORTHERN DIVER, 



WHICH is the principal of the auk tribe, i 

 nearly three feet and a half in length. The bill 

 is black : and is four inches and a half long. 

 The head and nefck are of a deep velvet black, 



