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12. Tufted Puffin. Lunda cirrhata.
Tufted Puffin. Puffin.
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.
White.
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
× 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.
White..
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
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 × 1.75. Data.--So. Labrador, June 23, 1884. Single egg
laid at end of burrow in the ground. Collector, J. H. Jameson.
13a. Large-billed Puffin. Fratercula arctica naumanni.
A more northerly subspecies of the last, inhabiting the Arctic region on the
Atlantic side. The bird is somewhat larger but otherwise indistinguishable
from the common species. The eggs are exactly the same or average a trifle
larger. Size 2.55 × 1.80. Data.--Iceland, July 6, 1900. Single egg in hole under
a rock. Collector, Chas. Jefferys.
14. Horned Puffin. Fratercula corniculata.
Range.--Pacific Coast from Alaska to British Columbia. The Horned Puffin
differs from the common in that the blackish band across the throat extends
upwards in a point to the bill. Their nesting habits are precisely the same as
those of the preceding species. A single pure white egg is laid; the shell is
slightly rougher than those of the others. Size 2.65 × 1.80. Data.--Round Is.,
Alaska, June 24, 1884. Single egg laid at end of burrow in ground; no nest.
Collector, G. L. Kennedy.
15. Rhinoceros Auklet. Cerorhinca monocerata.
Range.--Pacific Coast, breeding from British Columbia northward and wintering
southward to Lower California.
The Rhinoceros Auklet or Horned Auk has a much smaller bill than the
Puffins; in the summer this is adorned at the base by a horn from which it
takes its name. There are also slender plumes from above and below the eyes.
Unlike the Puffins, these birds sit upon their whole tarsus.
They nest on islands of the North Pacific Coast from Vancouver northward.
A single egg is laid in crevices among the rocks or in burrows in the ground.
It is similar both in size and shape to that of the Puffins, but is often quite
heavily blotched with brown. Size 2.70 × 1.80. Data.--Unak Is., Alaska, June
30, 1900. Egg laid in a fissure of the rocks; no nest. Collector, F. Weston.
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