mbers. After the breeding-season
the Puffins seem to leave the Channel Islands for the winter, as they do
at Lundy Island and in the British Channel; they may return
occasionally, as they do in the Bristol Channel, for a short time in
foggy weather; but I have never seen a Puffin in any of my passages in
October and November, or in any boating expedition at that time of year,
and I have never heard any of the boatmen talk about Barbelotes being
seen about in the winter. An unsigned paper, however, in the 'Star' for
April 27th, 1878, mentions Puffins amongst other winter birds; but I
very much doubt their making their appearance in the winter except as
accidental visitants; there is one specimen, however, in the Museum,
which, judging by the bill, must have been killed in the winter, or, at
all events, to quote Dr. Bureau, "apres la saison des amours." Dr.
Bureau, in a very interesting paper[29] on this curious change, or
rather moult, which takes place in the bill of the Puffin, and which has
been translated into the 'Zoologist' for 1878, where a plate showing the
changes is given, says that Puffins are cast ashore on the coast of
Brittany during the winter, for he says they leave the coast, as I
believe they do that of the Channel Islands, and the only indication of
their continuing there is that dead birds are rolled on the shore after
severe gales in the autumn and winter; and "these birds are clad in a
plumage different to that worn by those we get in the breeding-season.
In the orbital region, for instance, they have a spot, more or less
large, of a dusky brown; they have not the red eyelids, nor the horny
plates above and below the eye, nor have they the puckered yellow skin
at the base of the bill, and, what is still more remarkable, the bill is
differently formed; it is neither of the same size, shape, nor colour,
and the pieces of which it is composed are not even the same. It is
small sliced off (trongue) in front, especially at the lower mandible,
wanting the pleat (ourlet) at the base, and flattened laterally on a
level with the nostrils, where a solid horny skin of a bright
lead-colour is replaced by a short membrane." The whole paper by Dr.
Bureau on this subject is most interesting, but is much too long for me
to insert here; the nature, however, of the change which takes place
must be so interesting to many of my readers who are familiar with the
Puffin in its breeding plumage, and who, in spite of the Bir