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ALCAD.E. 
precaution of putting on a couple of thick Shetland gloves, 
one above the other, and thus it mattered but little that the 
birds held on with their hills as fast as they liked. I have 
been told that the Puffin cannot bite so severely as has been 
supposed ; perhaps not, but I should not like to try. 
Before we left the cliffs I learned how it was we had not 
descended first of all by this route. Just in our way was a 
rock jutting out in such a manner that we had to climb over it 
with our backs projecting seaward rather beyond our feet; not 
at all difficult in ascending, owing to the excellent grasp afforded 
by the rough surface of the crag, but scarcely possible of descent, 
when one’s legs are swinging loose in the air, and one cannot see 
where to get a footing. Surmounting this, we were soon at the 
heathery summit, among the nests of the Arctic Skua, and worked 
our way home, lighting upon nests of the Mountain Linnets 
and the Wheatears, by way of contrast, to finish with. 
The single egg of the Puffin varies but little in size, usually 
mea.suring two inches and four lines by one inch and seven 
lines, and the shell is very brittle in texture. One of the most 
remarkable deviations from the average type that was brought 
to me showed a ring of light-brownish grey and dull raw 
sienna round the larger end, with a few spots of the same 
scattered about the remainder of the surface. In another in- 
stance the egg was covered with long irregular streaks of light 
brown, and purplish grey, of various shades, upon the usual 
dull white ground. 
It is sometimes said that, in a calm. Puffins are unable to 
rise from the water. This is certainly incorrect. At such times 
they perhaps have more difficulty in getting upon the wing, 
and, when fired at or otherwise disturbed, will usually have 
recourse to diving in preference to fiying, but they are very fond 
of flapping along the surface of the water for a short distance, 
and I fancy it is the awkward manner in which they do this 
that has, to many observers, given them the appearance of 
failing in their endeavours to rise. 
The experiment of keeping Puffins alive has been tried, but 
