F ratercula arctica (Linnæus*).
THE PUFFIN,
SEA PARROT, AND COULTERNER.
Fratercula arctica.
F ratercula, Brissonf.—Bill shorter than the head, higher than long, very
much compressed, both mandibles arched, transversely grooved, notched towards
the point ; the culmen as high as the top of the head, and with a cutting edge.
Nostrils lateral, marginal, linear, naked, almost entirely closed by a naked membrane.
Legs short, abdominal ; feet with three toes only, all in front, united
by membranes ; claws curved. Wings and tail short.
T h e P u f f in is the sole representative in the Atlantic of
a well-marked genus, whose three other members are confined
to the North Pacific : the headquarters of the Alcidce.
* Alca arctica,, Linnæus, Syst. Nat. Ed, 12, i. p. 211 (1766).
t Ornithologie, vi. p. 81 (1760).
It is a singular-looking bird, its aspect being rendered more
peculiar by the form and colour of its bill, and a certain
quaintness in its gait. As a rule it is a summer visitor to
the British Islands, making its appearance early in April,
and departing with great regularity by the end of August ;
but Mr. R. Gray states, that on the east coast of Scotland,
especially in the Firth of Forth, the Puffin is never absent—
the place of the local birds, which go southwards, being
supplied by flocks from more northern regions; and on the
west side it arrives at the beginning of February. Grassy
slopes on cliffs, low islands covered with a short turf suitable
for burrows, or masses of fallen rocks, are the places
selected by Puffins for the great object of their visit, the
reproduction of their species ; and the localities in which
they assemble in multitudes are too numerous to be mentioned.
On the south coast their numbers have decreased,
and comparatively few breed in the Isle of Wight and in
the cliffs of Dorsetshire; nor do there appear to be many
suitable localities on the south coasts of Devon and Cornwall.
The Scilly Islands, to which they still resort in considerable
numbers, appear to have been famous for Puffins in
early times ; for William Botoner, or Buttoner—commonly
called William of Worcester—in his ‘Itinerary ’ written in
1468 or 1478, speaks of the Island of Trescoe as inhabited
“ cuniculis et avibus vocatis pophyns” (Harting, Introd.
p. xii. to Rodd’s B. of Cornwall). Mr. Frederick Holme, of
Corpus Christi College, Oxford, to whom the Author was
indebted for many interesting notices on our British birds,
sent the following :—“ The Scilly Isles were held in the
fourteenth century, under the king as Earl of Cornwall, by
Ranulph de Blancminster for an annual payment of six
shillings and eight pence, or three hundred Puffins at
Michaelmas.”* Myriads burrow in the slopes of Lundy
Island, which, in fact, owes its Scandinavian name (lunde
puffin, ey island) to the birds found there by the northern
rovers who once made it their residence. Priestholm, off
the coast of Anglesea, is another well-known haunt, and there
* Probably salted or dried birds for fresh ones would not be obtainable.