Book III. 0^3\£1T HO LO QT. 333. 



They are ( faith he) of the bignefsof a good corpulent hen, but have pretty long 

 Necks and Legs. Their colour is dusky, or a dark aft, and (if I be not miftaken ) 

 they have fome white under their Bellies, as wild Pigeons fometimes have. (T My Bird 

 on the under-fide was almoft wholly white.] Its Bill is very hard, and hooked at the 

 end like an Eagles, but not fo much, of a bright red, if I well remember. [ I be- 

 lieve he did not well remember this, for the Bill in my Bird was of a pale yellow, all 

 but the hook, which was black. 1 ] Its Eyes fair, of a lire-colour, not very great. For 

 I did once fee one, which being fmitten with a rod on the Head opened its Eyes 

 and cried out, but {hut them presently again, not being able to bear the light of the 

 Sun. And again : Their colour is not (imply white ( as Phny writes) but inclkiing 

 to cinereous, as in Fulic£ ( he means a Bird of the Gulf-kmd) to which alfo he com- 

 pares them. Whether they have toothed Bills or not, I did not obferve, but they 

 have them ftrong and pretty long. Thus farGefner. Which notes ( faith Aklrovandm} 

 do for the moft part agree exactly to my Bird, which had it not a hooked Bill, one 

 might not unfitly judge to be of the great Gull-hind : It doth fo refemble them in the 

 whole body, but efpecially in the Wings. The Feet are of the fame colour with the 

 Bill, as are the Legs alfo. 



But this defcription is not much to be confided in, being partly borrowed of Gef~ 

 ner, (who had it from the relation of a certain friend, who defcribed it by memory) 

 partly took from a Picture,or a dried cafe of the Bird fent him out of the Mand. Thole 

 who happen to travel to the Mands called Tremiti, would do well to enquire dili- 

 gently concerning thefe Birds,or rather themfelves procure and exactly defcribe them, 

 that lb we may not be any longer without a true and perfect hiftory of them. 



Chap. II. 

 T7;e Muffin of the Ijle of Man, which I take : to he the Puffinus Anglorum. 



r R. Willughby law and defcribed only a young one taken out of the Neft, who 

 makes it equal in bignefs to a tame Pigeon. Thofe which I law dried in the 

 Repository of the Royal Society, and in Tradefiants Cabinet, feemed to me 

 fomewhat bigger. Its colour on the Head, Neck, Back, and whole upper (ide 

 is dusky or black, on the Breaft and Belly white. The Bill is an inch and half, ork 

 may be two inches long, narrow, black, and for its figure fomething like to a Lap- 

 wings Bill, the upper Chap being hooked at the end, like a Cormorants. Its bafe is co- 

 vered with a naked skin, in which are the Nofthrils. From the Nofthrils on each fide 

 a furrow or groove is produced almoft to the hook. The Head is blacker than the reft 

 of the Back: The Wings long: The Tail an hand-breadth long, and black. The 

 Feet underneath black} above, the outer half of each foot is black, the inner of a 

 pale or whitifh fkih-colour, fo that the middle toe is partly white., partly black. It 

 hath a fmall back-toe, and black Claws. 



For its extraordinary fatnefs its flefti is efteemed unwholfom meat, unlefs it be well 

 feafoned with fait. 



At the Southend of thelileof Man lies a little Met, divided from Man by a nar- 

 row channel, called the Calf of Man, on which are no habitations, but only a Cot- 

 tage or two lately built. This Met is full of Conies, which the Puffins coming year- 

 ly diilodge, and build in their Burroughs. They lay each but one Egg before they 

 fit, likethe Razor-bill and Guillen* j although it be the common perfvvailon that they 

 lay two at a time, of which the one is always addle. They feed their young ones 

 wondrous fat. The old ones early in the morning, at break of day, leave their Nefts 

 and Young, and the Mand it felf, and fpend the whole day in fiming in the Sea, never 

 returning or once fetting foot on the Mand before Evening twilight : So that all day 

 the Mand is fo quiet and Hill from all noife as if there were not a bird about it. What- 

 ever fifth or other food they have gotten and {wallowed in the day-time, by the innate 

 heat or proper ferment of the ftomach is ( as they fay ) changed into a certain oyly 

 fubftance [ or rather chyle ] a good part whereof in the night-time they vomit up 

 into the mouths of their Young, which being therewith nourifhed grow extraordina- 

 rily fat. When they are Come to their full growth, they who are intruded by the 

 * Lord of the Mand draw them out of the Cony-holes, and that they may the more * The Eari 

 readily know and keep account of the number they take, they cut off one foot and ofc ^« 



referve 



