Birds, 



8003 



is not so perfect an albino as the former, as it has many dark feathers on the wings; the 

 crest, head and body, however, are nearly pure white. — R. H. T. Gilbert ; March. 



Occurrence of the Little Gull in Kent. — Two little gulls were obtained for me on 

 the Kentish coast last month ; one was a bird of the first year; the other a very fine 

 adult: they had far advanced towards the summer state of plumage. Four other 

 instances of the occurrence of this gull were recently recorded (Zool. 7939, 7940). 

 To what cause is the simultaneous appearance, in different districts, of these and other 

 comparatively scarce birds to be attributed ? The little auk, the hoopoe, and others, 

 seldom occur in isolated instances ; but when one is recorded, five or six others 

 usually appear, about the same time, in various parts of the country. — W. Hammond ; 

 St. Albans Courts near Wingham, Kent, March 7, 1862. 



Puffins in Winter. — I have lately met with no less than eight puffins killed in 

 December, January, February or March, and agreeing in certain peculiarities that I 

 think worthy of notice. In the first place, the fact of their occurrence in winter is 

 remarkable, since it is perfectly familiar to every ornithologist that the puffin arrives 

 on our coast in May, and leaves us in August, after the duties of incubation are over 

 and the young are able to fly. What becomes of these curious birds in winter, I have 

 no means of ascertaining : it is one of those secrets ornithologists have not yet pene- 

 trated ; and it is on this account we find them so frequently indulging in graceful 

 platitudes, which convey no reliable information ; such for instance as the following: 

 — "Before the approach of winter these interesting visitors shun the rigours of our 

 boisterous clime, and retire to the balmy shores of the Mediterranean, or find a still 

 more congenial climate farther to the South ;" or sometimes thus : — " As soon as the 

 young puffins are sufficiently strong on the wing to brave the inclemency of boreal 

 skies, they wing their way to the far- distant North, where they congregate in count- 

 less myriads, to the astonishment of the intrepid men who venture life and limb in 

 the service of Science." All this is nice writing and agreeable reading, yet regarded 

 from a Natural-History point of view it is scarcely satisfactory. But passing over a 

 branch of the subject on which we are profoundly ignorant, these facts remain : the 

 normal puffin only occurs here in summer, the abnormal puffin only in winter. Secondly, 

 The shape of the beak is totally different in the two birds ; in the winter bird it is more 

 slender, more pointed, the upper outline much less convex and quite continuous with 

 the outline of the forehead; the lower outline is produced into a conspicuous angle or 

 tooth halfway beiween its apex and base ; of this angle there is no trace in the summer 

 bird. In the summer bird the gape opens beyond the mandibles and almost beneath 

 the e\e, terminating in a puckered naked skin of a bright yellow colour. The winter 

 bird is without this extended gape, and totally without the naked skin. In the summer 

 bird the eye is surrounded with a naked skin of bright orange colour; this orange 

 circle or eyelid is entirely wanting in the winter bird. Some slight differences of colour 

 are to be noticed; but these are of less importance than those in the structure of the 

 beak, &c, already described ; the cheeks and ear-coverts of the winter bird arc smoke- 

 coloured, while those of the summer bird are pure white. It has been suggested that 

 the extraordinary difference in the shape of the beak is attributable to a difference of 

 age; that the winter specimens are invariably young birds, and it is conjectured they 

 have not been sufficiently advanced to accompany their parents on their southward 

 journey. Thus Temminck, in his 4 Manual of Ornithology,' vol. ii. p. 933, observes, 

 " Les jeunes de l'annee, ont le bee beaucoup plus petit, lisse sur les cotes, depourvu de 

 sillons, d'un brun jaunatre; l'espace entre l'ceil etle bee u'un cendre noiratre; les joues 



