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CHAPTER VIII.

OF THE AUK, puffin, and OTHER BIRDS of the
PENGUIN KIND.

Or a size far inferior to the penguin, but with nearly the same form, and exactly of the same appetites and manners, there is a very numerous tribe. These frequent our shores, and, like the penguin, have their legs placed behind. They have short wings, which are not totally incapable of flight; with round bills for seizing their prey, which is fish. They live upon the water, in which they are continually seen diving; and seldom venture upon land, except for the purposes of continuing their kind.

The first of this smaller tribe is the Great Northern Diver, which is nearly the size of a goose: it is beautifully variegated all over with many stripes, and differs from the penguin, in being much slenderer and more elegantly formed. The Gray Speckled Diver does not exceed the size of a Muscovy duck; and, except in size, greatly resembles the former. The Auk, which breeds on the islands of St. Kilda, and chiefly differs from the penguin in size and colour: it is smaller than a duck; and the whole of the breast and belly, as far as the middle of the throat, is white. The Guillemot is about the same size; it differs from the auk, in having a longer, a slenderer, and a straighter bill. The Scarlet-throated Diver may be distinguished by its name; and the Puffin, or Coulterneb, is one of the most remarkable birds we know.

Words cannot easily describe the form of the bill of the puffin, which differs so greatly from that of any other bird. Those who have seen the coulter of a plough, may form some idea of the beak of this

odd-looking animal. The bill is flat; but, very different from that of the duck, its edge is upwards. It is of a triangular figure, and ending in a sharp point; the upper chap bent a little downward, where it is joined to the head; and a certain callous substance encompassing its base, as in parrots. It is of two colours; ash-coloured near the base, and red towards the point. It has three furrows or grooves impressed in it, one in the livid part, two in the red. The eyes are fenced with a protuberant skin of a livid colour, and they are gray or ash-coloured. These are marks sufficient to distinguish this bird · by; but its value to those in whose vicinity it breeds, renders it still more an object of curiosity.

The puffin, like all the rest of this kind, has its legs thrown so far back, that it can hardly move without tumbling. This makes it rise with difficulty, and subject to many falls before it gets upon the wing; but as it is a small bird, not much bigger than, a pigeon, when it once rises, it can continue its flight with great celerity.

Both this and all the former build no nest, but lay their eggs either in the crevices of rocks, or in holes under ground near the shore. They chiefly choose the latter situation; for the puffin, the auk, the guillemot, and the rest, cannot easily rise to the nest when in a lofty situation. Many are the attempts these birds are seen to make to fly up to those nests which are so high above the surface. In rendering them inaccessible to mankind, they often render them almost inaccessible to themselves. They are frequently obliged to make three or four efforts before they can come at the place of incubation. For this reason the auk and guillemot, when they have once laid their single egg, which is extremely large for the size, seldom forsake it until it is excluded. The male, who is better furnished for flight, feeds

the female during this interval; and so bare is the place where she sits, that the egg would often roll down from the rock, did not the body of the bird support it.

But the puffin seldom chooses these inaccessible and troublesome heights for its situation. Relying on its courage, and the strength of its bill, with which it bites most terribly, it either makes or finds a hole in the ground, where to lay and bring forth its young. All the winter these birds, like the rest, are absent, visiting regions too remote for discovery. At the latter end of March, or the beginning of April, come over a troop of their spies or harbingers, that stay two or three days, as it were to view and search out for their former situations, and see whether all be well. This done, they once more depart, and, about the beginning of May, return again with the whole army of their companions. But if the season happens to be stormy and tempestuous, and the sea troubled, the unfortunate voyagers undergo incredible hardships; and they are found, by hundreds, cast away upon the shores, lean, and perished with famine.* It is most probable, therefore, that this voyage is performed more on the water than in the air; and as they cannot fish in stormy weather, their strength is exhausted before they can arrive at their wishedfor harbour.

The puffin, when it prepares for breeding, which always happens a few days after its arrival, begins to scrape up a hole in the ground not far from the shore, and when it has some way penetrated the earth, it then throws itself upon its back, and with bill and claws thus burrows inward, till it has dug a hole with several windings and turnings, from eight to ten feet deep. It particularly seeks to dig under a stone, where it expects the greatest security. In this Willoughby's Ornith. p. 326.