mandible ; the Ikin at the corners of the mouth is hard, and is 
of a fimilar fubftance to the fheath, it is quite bare of feathers, 
and forms when the bill is clofed a fmall ftar ; eyes fmall, 
furrounded by irregular warty protuberances, which above 
and below the eyes are hard as bone ; tail fhort, it confifts of 
fixteen feathers ; legs feathered to the knees, the legs (as is 
common to the genus) are placed fo far behind, that the bird 
cannot walk without great difficulty and repeatedly falling ; 
claws ftrong, the infide and outfide ones are much curved, 
and incline inwards, the middle ones are the longeft but lefs 
curved, and incline outwards. Colours difpofed alike in both 
fexes ; the bill in the female is about one-third fmaller than 
that of the male, the colours of the bill vary according to age : 
the young for the firft year have but very flight furrows. 
The Puffin appears on our coafts fome time in April, but 
as it is not able to contend with ftorms, its time of arriving is 
not certain, numbers have frequently been found dead on the 
fhore after a ftorm ; at its arrival it is generally lean, but in a 
week or two it becomes very fat ; it is met with on all the 
rocky parts of our coaft ; immediately on its arrival it begins 
to feek for a proper place todepofit its egg in fecurity ; fhould 
he furrounding country be of a light foil, it burrows in the 
earth to the depth of from fix to eight feet ; it will frequently 
difpoffefs a rabbit of its burrow to fave itfelf the labour of 
forming one, its egg is white and is about the fize of thofe of 
the hen. 
Thefe birds leave this country towards the end of Auguft, 
and though they fhew during the time of rearing their young, 
a remarkably ftrong attachment to them, they leave all 
thofe that are not fufficiently ftrong to undertake the journey, 
without 
