THE PUFFIN. 
263 
chiefly the dung of Pengums — not, perhaps, the particular 
species with which we are familiar, but of one or more 
of its near relatives, probably the Patagonian, or King 
Penguin, a much larger bird than ours, which is widely dis- 
tributed throughout latitudes south of the line. Mr. G. 
Bennet, in his ' Wanderings,' &c., has described a colony of 
these birds, extending even to thirty or forty acres, situated at 
the north end of the Macquarie Islands, in the South Pa- 
cific Ocean. * The number of Penguins collected together 
in this spot is immense, but it would be almost impossible 
to guess at it with any near approach to truth ; as, during 
the whole of the day and night, 30,000 or 40,000 of them 
were continually landing, and an equal number going to 
sea. They are arranged, when on shore, in as compact a 
manner, and in as regular ranks, as a regiment of soldiers ; 
and are classed with the greatest order, the young birds being 
in one situation, the moulting birds in another, the sitting 
birds in a third, and the clean birds in a fourth, &c. ; and 
so strictly do birds in a similar condition congregate, that 
should a bird that is unclean intrude itself among those that 
are clean, it is immediately ejected from among them. 
But it is from the island of Ichaboe, situated upon the 
western coast of Africa, that our chief supply of guano has 
been obtained, and, recently, flie bodies of the dead birds 
have become a marketable^ commodity. 
The Arctic Puffin {Mormon Arcticus), variously 
called the Buikir,*" Bottle-Nose, Coutlener, Gulder head, 
Mullet, Pope, Sea Parrot, Tammy Norrie. We have here a 
variety of choice epithets, some perhaps more expressive 
than elegant ; we trust that no reflection on Pio Nono is 
intended in one of them, nor on Joe Smith and his followers 
in the name given to the Puflin genus, viz. Mormon. 
In truth, the Puffins are comical-looking birds, and we 
wonder not that all kinds of odd names should have been 
applied to them. There are several species known, but only 
one is in the list of British birds. They are smaller than 
the Auks or Guillemots, which they resemble in form 
and structure, as well as in habits. In one thing they differ 
from the other birds of the family ; they dig holes in the turf 
