PUFFIN. 
*) 
thickly covered by large Hocks floating quietly on the surface or rising oceasionally on wing. In the 
twilight hours PufTins invariably exbibit the greatest activity; it is only about sunset or shortly after 
daybreak that I have noticed these immense gatherings in this part of the Firth. 
A wounded Puffin ahvaj's attacks his captor with the greatest determination, though the bite he is 
able to inflict is by no means so severe as might be expected from the form of his singular bill. 
While procuring specimens in summer plumage off the island of Craig Leith, in June 1865, I succeeded 
in stopping half a dozen (all that were needed) at a single shot. The majority of the victims proving 
wounded, an attempt was first made to secure a lively cripple struggling on the surface; two or three 
others that had dived, rising as this bird was seized, fixed on my arm, and were lifted into the boat 
without further trouble, all signs of the nips they administered rapidly disappearing. It is evident that 
several writers on British ornithology, who have described the beak of this species as hard and sharp and 
capable of inflicting a severe wound, can never have procui’ed the birds themselves and examined them 
at once, as this is not the fact. In life the edges of both mandibles are broad, soft, and fleshy, and it 
is only some time after death, when all the soft parts have dried up and contracted, that such an idea 
could be formed, as the bite the poor Avounded bird inflicts, if he happens to grip your hand when you 
lift him into the boat, is scarcely perceptible. 
This quaint-looking species resorts to a variety of situations for breeding-purposes ; though well 
able to excavate a hole for themselves in soft mould, they occasionally fraternize with the rabbits, or at 
times (probably owing to the effect of the guano) evict them from their burrows. To ascertain the 
numbers that rear their young among the ruins of the old fortifications on the Bass, the rock must be 
visited shortly after daybreak or at dusk. In the lower dungeons I have watched these birds emerging 
from cracks and crevices among the masonry, as well as from beneath the fallen blocks encumbering 
the passages and adjacent ledges. Hundreds in early morning, Avhen no cause for alarm has arisen, may 
be seen resting quietly on the projecting stones of the building or the slabs below the openings by 
Avhich they gain an entrance ; during the day not a Puffin is to be observed, so I suppose they may be 
considered somewhat nocturnal in their habits. 
To the best of my knowledge, the intermediate stages of the Puffin have been oA^erlooked by the 
majority of w riters ; neither has any opinion been given as to the age at wdiich the bird assumes all 
signs of maturity. Few of this species appear to approach the land Avhile exhibiting the intermediate 
stages unless driven ashore by the biiffetings of protracted storms. The first immature Puffin that came 
under my notice aa'us obtained in a dying condition off Whitby on the Yorkshire coast in July 1862: 
the second AA’as secured alive off Brighton on the 1st of July, 1874; this specimen w'as turned out in 
the garden, and taking up its quarters in a small pond, thrived avcII for over a year, no alteration 
having taken place in the colouring of the soft parts or plumage at the time of its death. While 
fishino' off the Bass, an immature bird Avas taken in the landing-net floating helplessly past the boat 
after a gale in October 1874 ; another in precisely similar dress, and corresponding in the colouring of 
the soft parts, AA'as obtained off’ Brighton during the first Aveek of April 1879, the last in this stage 
that came under my observation being captured by a fisherman on the 13th of February, 1883, a few 
miles off Lancing. The notes taken doAvn descriptive of the tints of the soft parts of these birds shoAV a 
great similarity, little if any distinction being apparent Ijctween those obtained during summer, autumn, 
or Avinter. In order to giv'e a correct representation of the beak of this species, it is necessary that a 
sketch should be taken immediately after the specimen is secured. The bright tints on the soft portions 
of the mandibles, that render the adults so conspicuous in summer, rapidly shrivel up and fade ; a change 
also takes place Avith birds procured in Avinter, the lower mandible contracting to a considerable extent 
and the markings gradually disappearing. 
