t>t;FFIN. 
^33 
young Puffin with its crop distended, and he killed the bird to 
find out what the food was. The crop contained forty-one 
small fish, which have been identified as the young of the 
Lancelot {Ammodj/es lanceolaUis). Mr. Drane says that he has 
seen Puffins in thousands feeding almost entirely on this fish, 
which seemed to constitute their chief food. Marine insects 
and crustaceans are also eaten. 
From its curious bill and large head the Puffin is often 
called the “ Sea Parrot.” It is a bird of rapid flight, and 
a most expert swimmer and diver, but is very awkward on 
land. 
For a good account of its habits, I have resorted to the 
writings of the late Dr. A. E. Brehm on the bird-rocks of 
Lapland : — 
“The farther we went, the more magnificent became the 
spectacle. The whole hill was alive. Hundreds of thousands 
of eyes looked down upon us intruders, From every hole 
and corner, from every peak and ledge, out of every cleft, 
burrow, or opening, they hurried forth, right, left, above, 
beneath ; the air, like the ground, teemed with birds. From 
the sides and from the summit of the berg thousands threw 
themselves like a continuous cataract into the sea in a throng 
so dense that they seemed to the eye to form an almost 
solid mass. Thousands came, thousands went, thousands 
fluttered in a wondrous mazy dance ; hundreds of thousands 
flew, hundreds of thousands swam and dived, and yet other 
hundreds of thousands awaited the footsteps which should 
rouse them also. There was such a swarming, whirring, 
rustling, dancing, flying, and creeping all about us that we 
almost lost our senses ; the eye refused duty, and his wonted 
skill failed even the marksman who attempted to gain a prize 
at random among the thousands. Bewildered, hardly con- 
scious, we pushed on our way until at length we reached the 
summit. Our expectation here at last to regain quietness, 
composure, and power of observation, was not at once 
realised. Even here there was the same swarming and 
whirring as further down the slope, and the cloud of birds 
around us was so thick that we only saw the sea dimly and 
indefinitely as in twilight. But a pair of Jerfalcons, who had 
their eyrie in a neighbouring precipice, and had seen the 
