GENUS I. MORMON, Illiger. PUFFIN.
Bill about the length of the head, nearly as high as long, exceedingly compressed, at the base as high as the head, obliquely furrowed on the sides; upper mandible with a horny dotted rim along the basal margin; its dorsal line decurved from the base, the ridge narrow, at the base rounded, the sides rapidly sloped, with three or four curved oblique grooves, the edges sharp, their outline nearly straight, the tip deflected, very narrow, but obtuse; lower mandible with the angle very narrow, and so placed, that the base of the bill is inflected beyond the perpendicular, the dorsal line a little convex at first, towards the end ascending, and nearly straight, the sides perpendicular, the edges sharp; the tip very narrow, obliquely truncate; gape-line extending downwards a little beyond the base of the bill, and furnished with a soft corrugated extensile membrane. Nostrils marginal, linear, direct, in the horny part of the bill. Head large, roundish-ovate; neck short and thick; body full and rounded. Feet short, rather stout, placed far behind; tibia bare for a short space; tarsus very short, little compressed, anteriorly with a series of small scutella; toes three, connected by entire webs, the outer and middle toes nearly equal. Claws strong, of moderate length, arched, acute, that of the inner toe much curved. Plumage close, blended, soft. Wings short, narrow, curved, acute; the first quill longest; secondaries short and rounded. Tail very short, slightly rounded, of sixteen feathers.
470. 1. Mormon cirrhatus, Lath. Tufted Puffin.
Plate CCXLIX. Male.
Bill with four curved grooves on the upper mandible anterior to the nostrils, the lower smooth, a horny subcylindrical addition to the ridge at the base about an inch in length, the colour yellowish-red, the basal rim and ridge towards the end of the upper mandible bright red; feet bright red; two tufts of loose, acuminate, decurved feathers on the sides of the head behind the eye; face white; upper parts brownish-black, glossed with blue, lower sooty-brown, tinged with grey on the abdomen; part of the sides and under wing-coverts greyish-brown.
Male, 15, 221/2.
Extremely rare and accidental on the coast of the United States in winter. Common in the Arctic Seas, and on the north-west coast of America.
Alca cirrhata, Lath. Ind. Orn. v. ii. p. 791.
Mormon cirrhatus, Bonap. Syn. p. 429.
Tufted Mormon or Puffin, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 539.
Tufted Puffin, Mormon cirrhatus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 364.
471. 2. Mormon glacialis, Leach. Large-billed Puffin.
Plate CCXCIII. Male.