The Tufted Puffin 
The baby Puffin is 
your true Puffin , and it 
is undoubtedly he who 
gave this trivial name 
to the group. He is, 
indeed, a mere puff-ball 
of down, for he is densely 
covered at birth with 
down at least an inch 
long and you could blow 
him away (Pouf!) if he 
were not so fat and 
anchored in a hole. The 
down is of a uniform 
dull slaty black, and the 
only touch of color about 
this infant pin-cushion 
is a showing of dull red 
near the middle of the 
otherwise black bill. 
In assuming the 
first plumage, the juve- 
nal shows many of the 
characters of the winter 
adult, but it is whitish 
or light gray below. 
With the approach of 
its first spring, it takes 
on first the feather tufts, 
of a dull brownish hue, 
then the white facial 
mask, with correspond¬ 
ing bill changes; but 
whether or not the year¬ 
ling bird breeds, is an 
open question. The non¬ 
breeding birds remain at 
sea, where they are 
nearly as exempt from scrutiny as are baby sea-serpents. 
The Tufted Puffin enjoys the widest breeding range of any bird in 
the North Pacific, except the Pigeon Guillemot; and although not so 
thoroughly distributed as that species, it is undoubtedly far more alum- 
Taken on the S. E. Farallon 
HIS HONOR, THE TUFTED PUFFIN 
Photo by the A uthor 
1513 
