THE PUFFIN. 
233 
Youghal, after a severe storm; — none of them exhibited any 
wounds. On this subject it is remarked by Willughby ,— “ If 
that season happen to be stormy and tempestuous, and the sea 
troubled, there are abundance of them found cast upon the 
shores, lean and perished with famine. For they cannot, unless 
the sea be calm, either proceed in their journey, or fish for their 
living” (p. 326). Mr. Poole observes, that “ puffins breed at 
the Saltees, off the Wexford coast, but bear no proportion for 
numbers to the kittiwakes and razorbills. They are very vicious 
when taken alive, and can deal a most excruciating pinch with 
their bills. About the middle of May they appeared to be in 
greater numbers than at a later period.” 
Butty, in his f Natural History of Dublin/ states, that the 
“ puffin is found at Lambay, and is a bird of passage appearing 
in April and May, and going in July or August.” It breeds at 
the present time (1850) on this island, but from increasing per- 
secution the numbers have been much lessened of late years. 
On Bird Island (opposite Kirkcubbin) in Strangford Lough, con- 
taining little more than a rood of ground, and a very dry gravelly 
spot covered with herbage, a puffin's nest was found in the 
middle of July 1843. The eggs, two in number, were deposited 
in a hole about a foot from the surface. The bird itself was fre- 
quently seen on the nest and flying from it, but the one indivi- 
dual only was ever observed.* This solitary nest is a remarkable 
instance, the puffin being gregarious in the breeding season, and 
no haunt being nearer than about thirty-five miles. The species 
was never known to nidify here before, an inquiry which I was 
particular in making, lest this nest might be the last of a 
colony that had gradually died out there, or had changed to 
more favourable quarters. Such a site being chosen for the 
nest is not unprecedented. Dr. McCulloch, in his description of 
the Flannan Isles, remarks “Various sea-fowl, of the species 
usually found in these seas, have here established their colo- 
nies; but the most numerous is the puffin. These literally 
* Mr. Francis Rankin. 
