An Ornithologist’s Summer in Labrador 
M. Abbott Frazar. 
Fratercula arctica , Puffin. At the entrance of 
Wolf Bay is Wolf island, which accommodates 
the largest colony of Puffins I heard of on the 
whole coast. The island coveres an area of 
about two or three hundred acres and the 
whole surface is covered with Puffin bur¬ 
rows. In many places they are so thick that 
one cannot step without sinking the foot into 
one and as likely as not come down onto the 
back of the inmate, but it never seems to hnrt 
them as they scramble out and away they go. 
| These burrows look from the outside like a 
I Woodchuck hole and are about the exact size, 
| but they are seldom over four feet deep and 
generally take an abrupt curve near the open¬ 
ing and run along usually near the surface of 
the ground. Several that 1 opened curved in 
such a way that the nest, which is an enlarged 
cavity at the end of the burrow with a little 
straw laid on the bottom, was exactly under 
the entrance and only a thin crust of soil be¬ 
tween the two. My method of opening them 
was to put in my arm above the elbow and 
throw up the soil, then advance it again and 
the second time generally made the nest acces¬ 
sible and almost invaribly the parent bird was 
found sitting. About a dozen nests I examined 
held two eggs and the balance of about a thou¬ 
sand, contained but one each; the greater part 
of the eggs were a plain, dull white, others 
were more or less thickly spotted with con¬ 
cealed chocolate markings deepening on some 
into reddish-brown, and about a dozen speci¬ 
mens were covered with deep and distinct 
brown spots and blotches, the spots varying 
on many to distinct tracings such as is seen j 
on Murre eggs. 
During my stay at Wolf Bay and while the 
Puffins were laying, we had a heavy three day’s ! 
storm, the day after which I visited the island j 
and every burrow was flooded and in many of 
them I could see the eggs floating around, J 
showing they were somewhat incubated, and 
yet I think it made no difference in tjie hatch¬ 
ing of the eggs, for afterwards there was 
hardly a burrow without its young bird. 
While the holes were drying out I noticed 
a great many birds plucked green grass and 
carried it in, presumedly, to raise the 
out of the mire. 
O.&O. XII. Jan.1887 .p.jZ- i. 
eggs 
