of this and the common Puffin were formerly held by the natives,
as a charm, and worn by the priefts as amulets.; indeed at the
prefent thefe have been feen fixed round their head-drefies, but
fuppofed now to be only efteemed as mere ornaments : the
ikins are however made ufe of for cloathing, being fewed together.
It is called in Kamtfchatka, Muechagatka; and in Ofchotka,
Igilma *. The manners of this coincide with the; laft, and like
that it burrows under ground, lining the neft with feathers and
fea-plants. .Lays one white egg, the end of May or beginning of
June, which alone is thought fit to be eaten, the flelh of the bird
itfelf being infipid and hard. It feeds on crabs, Jhrimps, and
Jhdl-fißj, which laft it forces from the rocks with its ftrong bill t-
3*
+• PUFFIN A.
Alca Arctica, Lin. Syß. i. p. 211. 4.—Faun. Sure. N° 141 ,—Brun. N° 103.
— Muller, N° 140.— Fri/cb, t. 192.
Le Macareux, Brif. Orn. vi. p. 81. pi. 6. fig. 2.— Buf. OiJ. ix. p. 358.
pi. 26.— PI. Enl. 275.
Ipatka, Hiß. Kamt'ß. p. 153.
Puffin, Rail Syn. p. 120. A. 5.— Will. Orn. p. 325. pi. 6;.— Hiß. Greenl. ii.
pi. 1.— Allin, ii. pi. 78, 79.— Eduu. pi. 358. fig. i.— Br. Zool. ii.
N° 232.— Ard. Zool. N° 427.— Tour in Walts, pi. 20.
Br. Muß. Lens. Muß.
D e s c r i p t io n . g I Z E of a 'Teal: length twelve inches: breadth twenty-one :
weight twelve ounces. The bill is an inch and a quarter
long, and of a lingular lhape, much comprefied on the fides, and
near an inch and a half deep at the bafe; from whence both
mandibles tend to a point, which is a little curved; acrofs the
upper are four oblique furrows ; on the under three : half of the
• Hiß. Kamtjcb. p. 183. f Aril. Zool.
bill
bill next the point is red; that next the bafe blue grey; and at
the bafe is a fort of riling cere, full of minute holes; the noftrils
are a long and narrow flit on each fide, near the edge of the upper
mandible, and parallel to it: the irides are grey: the edges of
the eye-lids crimfon ; on the upper, a callous protuberance, triangular
in lhape; on the under, an oblong one of the fame texture
: the top of the head, hind part of the neck,- and all the
upper parts of the plumage, are black, palling round the throat
in a c6llar : the fides of the head, chin, and all the parts beneath,
are of the pureft white : the legs are orange : in fome birds there
is a great portion of a dulky mixture on the cheeks, and a patch
o f the fame on each fide of the under jaw.
Male and female much alike.
They vary exceedingly, in regard to the bill, according to their
age : in the firft year it is finall, weak, deftitute of any furrow,
and of a dulky colour: in the fecond, larger, ftronger, and lighter
coloured, with a faint veftige of a furrow at the bafe; but thofe
of more advanced years are of vivid colours, and great ftrength :
hence thefe birds are fuppofed not to be perfeft, or at.leaft not
to breed, till the third year, efpecially as not a Angle one has
ever been obferved at Priejtholn which had not the bill of an
uniform growth *.
This fpecies frequents feveral parts of the coafts of England; a
few about the rocks at Dover, and the neighbourhood; great
numbers about the Needles, in the IJle of Wight, Beathy Bead, and
other parts; but no where in fuch plenty as at Prieftholm IJle
where they are feen in flocks innumerable. They come to that
* See Tour in Wales, p. 252 ; and figures of the different growths of the lillia
pi. 20.— Compare thoAlca Deleta of Brunnieh and Muller— Pall* Spic. ii. p. 22.
S f 2 place