are many others in Wales ; also in the Isle of Man. On the
east side of England the Flamborough cliffs in Yorkshire,
and the Fame Islands, are the only localities known. In
Scotland the breeding-places of this species are very numerous,
and the same may be said of Ireland.
Early in May these birds deposit their single large egg,
sometimes in crevices and fissures in the perpendicular surface
of the clifts, at the depth of three or four feet from the
front. Babbit warrens are not unfrequent on our coast,
and it is said that the Puffins often contend with the
rabbits for the possession of some of the burrows. Many
Puffins, Mr. Selby observes, “ resort to the Fern Islands,
selecting such as are covered with a stratum of vegetable
mould ; and here they dig their own burrows, from there
not being any rabbits to dispossess upon the particular
islets they frequent. They commence this operation about
the first week in May, and the hole is generally excavated
to the depth of three feet, often in a curving direction, and
occasionally with two entrances. When engaged in digging,
which is principally performed by the males, they are sometimes
so intent upon their work as to admit of being taken
by the hand, and the same may also be done during incubation.
At this period I have frequently obtained specimens,
by thrusting my arm into the burrow, though at the risk of
receiving a severe bite from the powerful and sharp-edged
bill of the old bird. At the further end of this hole the
single egg is deposited, which in size nearly equals that of
a Pallet. The length is two inches three lines, by one inch
and seven lines in breadth. Its colour when first laid is
white, sometimes spotted with pale cinereous, but it soon
becomes soiled and dirty'' from its immediate contact with the
earth, no materials being collected for a nest at the end of
the burrow. The young are hatched after a month’s incubation,
and are then covered with a long blackish down above,
which gradually gives place to the feathered plumage, so
that, at the end of a month or five weeks, they are able to
quit the burrow and follow their parents to the open sea.
Soon after this time, or about the second week in August,
the whole leave our coasts.” Mr. Theodore Walker says
(Zool. 1871, p. 2427) that when the young are hatched the
old bird goes to sea and catches “ soils,” or young herrings,
not exceeding an inch in length, and carries them by their
heads, the tails projecting on each side of the bill, sometimes
taking as many as twenty at once. Proceeding to the
hole it lays down all the fishes, and gives the young bird
one at a time until they are all eaten. When the female
is sitting the male feeds her in the same way. The young
are generally three weeks old before they are seen at the
entrance of their holes; they can then run as fast, or even
faster, than their parents, and being enticed down to the sea
by the old birds, they leave the island in three or four days.
Puffins when on land rest on the whole length of the foot
and heel, as represented in the illustration, and walk in
consequence with a waddling gait; but they fly rapidly, and
can swim and dive well. They feed on marine insects, small
Crustacea, and young fish, and they will go long distances—
Mr. Maclachlan says fifty miles—for their food. He often
saw these and other rock-birds going straight for Skerryvore
lighthouse early in the morning when he was extinguishing
the lights on Barra Head ; and so regular was their return
that the natives coming from marketing in Tobermory
used to follow their flight when fogs came on, with the
certainty of being piloted to Barra Head or Mingalay.
During stormy weather these birds not unfrequently become
victims, and after a continuance of severe gales there are
generally some records in the papers of Puffins having been
picked up far inland.
The Puffin is the most abundant of all the rock-birds
visiting the Faeroes ; there are vast colonies on the coast of
Norway, especially north of the Arctic circle ; and it is also
common in Iceland. In the waters of Spitsbergen, in small
numbers compared with those of other members of the
family, there occurs a large form—notably so as regards the
bill—which has been distinguished by some ornithologists
by the name of Fratercula glacialis, and it is probably this
form which occurs sparingly in Novaya Zemlya, and more