AUKS, MURRES, AND PUFFINS 
145 
3. Family Alcid^e. Auks, Murres, and Puffins. (Fig. 22c.) 
Twenty-four of the twenty-five species contained in this family 
are North American, and all are confined to the northern parts of the 
Northern Hemisphere. Only seven species are found in the North 
Atlantic, where none nests south of Maine. They are, without excep- 
tion, maritime birds, visiting our bays and harbors at certain seasons, 
but passing much of their lives on the open sea. They go ashore, as a rule, 
only to nest, when they gather on islets, often rocky and difficult of 
access, in vast numbers. Puffins stand on the toes and run about 
freely, but the other species rest, like Grebes, on the whole foot and 
tail, and their progress is more awkward. Unlike the Grebes and Loons, 
they use their wings rather than their feet when swimming under water. 
In the air, their flight is direct and rapid, suggesting, in some instances, 
that of a Duck, but the shorter neck should prevent confusion here. 
The Alcidce feed on fish, Crustacea, sand-eels, and other forms of 
sea life. 
1900. Chapman, F. M . , Bird Studies with a Camera, 152-190. (Apple- 
ton’s). — 1902. Job, H. K., Among the Water-Fowl, 50-96. (Doubleday). — 
1905. Wild Wings, 153-170. (Houghton, Mifflin.) 
KEY TO THE SPECIES 
I. Bill under *75 34. Dovekie. 
II. Bill over *75. 
1. Depth of bill at nostril over *60. 
A. Bill yellowish, depth at nostril over 1*00. 
13. Puffin. 13a. Large-billed Puffin. 
B. Bill black, depth at nostril under TOO . . 32. Razor-billed Auk. 
2 Depth of bill at nostril under '60. 
A. Wing-coverts white or tipped with white. 
a. Greater wing-coverts entirely white . . 28. Mandt’s Guillemot. 
b. Basal half of greater wing-coverts black. . 27. Black Guillemot. 
B. No white on wing-coverts. 
a. Bill over 1'60 30. Murre. 
b. Bill under 1*60 31. Brunnich’s Murre. 
13. Fratercula aretiea arctiea {Linn.). Puffin. (Fig. 22, c ). Ads . — 
Upperparts, wings, tail and foreneck blackish, browner on the head and 
foreneck; nape with a narrow grayish collar; sides of the head and throat 
white, sometimes washed with grayish; breast and belly white. (Breeding 
birds have the bill larger and brighter, and a horny spine over the eye.) L., 
13*00; W., 6*10; Tar., 1*05; B., 1*85; depth of B. at base (in winter), 1*50. 
Range. — Coasts and islands of n.. Atlantic. Breeds in N. Am., from 
Ungava s. to Bay of Fundy and Maine; winters s. to Mass., casually to 
L. I. and Delaware Bay. 
Long Island, A. V. in winter. 
Nest , in a burrow in the ground or in crevices among rocks. Egg, 
1, dull white, sometimes with obscure markings, 2*49 x 1*68. Date , Bird 
Rock, Que., May 26; Cape Whittle, Lab., June 11. 
One has only to see a Puffin to realize why it is commonly known as 
‘Sea Parrot;’ and when the bird on outstretched, short, rounded wings 
hovers for a moment before alighting, it bears the strongest resemblance 
