They stand upright on the sole
of the foot and are able to walk quite easily on land. Puffins have very
heavy and deep but thin bills, which are entirely unlike those of any
other bird and often give then the name of Parrot Auks. Puffins, Auks
and Murres are otherwise recognized by the presence of but three toes
which are webbed.

[Illustration 023: NEST AND EGGS OF PIED-BILLED GREBE.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]

Page 22

12. TUFTED PUFFIN. _Lunda cirrhata._

Range.--Pacific Coast from Alaska southward to southern California,
breeding locally throughout their range.

Tufted Puffins are the largest of the Puffins. In the breeding plumage,
they are a sooty brownish or black color; the cheeks are white, and a
long tuft of straw colored feathers extends back from each eye; the bill
is bright red and greenish yellow. They breed commonly on the
Farallones, where two or three broods are raised by a bird in a single
season, but much more abundantly on the islands in the north. Their
single eggs are laid in burrows in the ground or else in natural
crevices formed by the rocks. The eggs are pure white or pale buff and
are without gloss. They very often have barely perceptible shell
markings of dull purplish color. The eggs are laid about the middle of
June. Size 2.80 x 1.90. Data.--Farallone Is., May 27, 1887. Single egg
laid in crevice of rocks. Collector, W. O. Emerson.

13. PUFFIN. _Fratercula arctica arctica._

Range.--North Atlantic Coast, breeding from the Bay of Fundy northward.
Winters from breeding range along the New England Coast.

The common Puffin has the cheeks, chin and underparts white; upper parts
and a band across the throat, blackish. Bill deep and thin, and colored
with red, orange and yellow. They breed in large numbers on Bird Rock in
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The nest is either among the natural crevices
of the

[Illustration 024: Tufted Puffin. Puffin.]
[Illustration: White.]
[Illustration: left hand margin.]

Page 23

rocks, or in burrows excavated in the ground by the birds. These burrows
vary in length from two and a half to four or five feet. Except upon the
positive knowledge of the absence of the bird, it is a hazardous thing
to put the hand in one of these burrows for the bird can, and will nip
the fingers, sometimes to the bone. They lay but a single egg, usually
dull white and unmarked, but in some cases obscurely marked with reddish
brown. Size 2.50 x 1.75. Data.--So. L