The Puffin never lays more than one egg, unless the first may have been destroyed or taken away; nor does it raise more than a single young one in the season. The time of incubation is probably from twenty-five to twenty-eight days, although I have not been able to ascertain the precise period. Both birds work in digging the hole, using their bills and feet; they also sit alternately on their egg, although the female engages more industriously in this occupation, while the male labours harder at the burrow. The egg is pure white when first deposited, but soon becomes soiled by the earth, as no nest is formed for its reception. It generally measures two and a half inches by one and three-fourths, but varies in size according to the age of the bird, as well as in shape, some being considerably more rounded at the smaller end than others. When boiled, the white is of a livid-blue colour. The captain and myself were the only persons of our party who tried to eat some. The eggs are certainly very bad, and are never collected by “The Eggers.” The flesh of the birds is very dark, tough, and so fishy, as to be eatable only in cases of great want. Two Italians who had come to Labrador to purchase cod-fish, and were short of provisions, fed upon Puffins daily, to the great amusement of our party. The fishermen at times, when bait is scarce along the coast, destroy a great number of these birds, which they skin like rabbits, and then cut the flesh into slices.
The flight of the Puffin is firm, generally direct, now and then pretty well sustained. It is able to rise at once from the water or the land, although at times it runs on both before taking to wing. This depends much on necessity, for if pushed it flies at once from the ground, or plunges under the surface of the water. There they swim, with the wings partially opened, at a small depth, passing along in the manner of Divers; and by this means they catch their prey; but at other times they dive to the bottom, many fathoms deep, for shell-fish and other objects.
During the love season, the males chase each other in the air, on the water, or beneath its surface, with so much quickness, as to resemble the ricochets of a cannon-ball. Having kept several for about a week, I threw them overboard in the harbour where we were at anchor, and where the water was beautifully clear. On leaving my gloved hand, they plunged through the air, entered the water, and swam off, assisting themselves by their wings to the distance of from fifty to an hundred yards. On coming up, they washed their plumage for a long time, and then dived in search of food. While on board, they ran about from the dark towards the light, keeping themselves erect, and moving with great briskness, until at times close to my feet, when they would watch my motions like hawks, and if I happened to look towards them, would instantly make for some hiding-place. They fed freely and were agreeable pets, only that they emitted an unpleasant grunting noise, and ran about incessantly during the night, when each footstep could be counted. When on rocky shores, or islands with large stones, I observed that the Puffins often flew from one crag or stone to another, alighting with ease, and then standing erect.
The young, while yet covered with down, are black, with a white patch on the belly. Their bills do not acquire much of the form which they ultimately have for several weeks; nor do they assume their perfect shape for years. I have examined many hundred individuals, among which I have found great differences in the size and form of the bill. In fact, the existence of this diversity has induced many persons to think that we have several species of Puffin on our coasts; but, after having examined many specimens in Europe, I am decidedly of opinion that this species is the same that occurs in both continents, and that we have only one more at all common on our eastern coasts. The sexes differ in no perceptible degree, only that the males are somewhat larger. When two years old they may be considered of their full size, although the bill continues to grow and acquires furrows, until it becomes as you see it in the Plate.
Alca arctica, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 211.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 792.
Mormon arcticus, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p. 430.
Puffin, or Coulterneb, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 542.
Adult Male in summer. Plate CCXIII. Fig. 1.
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 rim along the basal margin, its dorsal line curved from the base, the ridge very narrow but rounded, the sides rapidly sloped, and marked with three curved oblique grooves, the edges obtuse, their outline nearly straight, the tip deflected, very narrow but obtuse. Between the basal rim and the first groove is a triangular flat space analogous to the nasal groove, in the lower part of which, close to the edge of the bill, is the linear direct nostril. 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 straight, the ridge narrow, broader about the middle, the sides nearly flat, grooved and ridged as in the upper, the edges strong, the tip very narrow. The gape extends downwards a little beyond the base of the bill, and is furnished with a soft corrugated extensible membrane.
Head large, oblong, anteriorly compressed. Eye rather small, with bare orbits; over the upper eyelid an oblong, nearly erect, horny body, along the lower a more elongated one of the same nature. Neck short and thick. Body full and rounded. Wings short. Feet short, rather stout; tibia bare for a short way above the joint. Tarsus very short, little compressed, anteriorly with a series of small scutella, the rest with reticular angular scales. Hind toe wanting. Toes of moderate length, rather slender, scutellate above, connected by reticulated entire membranes which project a little, the third and fourth toes about equal, the second considerably shorter, with a narrow marginal web. Claws strong, of moderate length, compressed, slightly arched, that of the inner toe much curved and acute.