PUFFINS, AUKS and MURRES. Family ALCID^E
Puffins, Auks and Murres are all sea birds and are only found inland when
blown there by some severe storm of winter. At this season numbers of them
are apt to lose their bearings and may sometimes be found with their feet
frozen in some of our inland ponds. Puffins are heavily built birds in appearance, but are very active both on the wing and in the water. Their wings are much larger comparatively than those of the other members of this family, so they are enabled to perform evolutions in the air, which are withheld from the others. 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.
21
THE BIRD BOOK
12. TUFTED PUFFIX. 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. Their single eggs are laid in burrows in the ground or else in
White
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
22
DIVING BIRDS
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
White obscurely marked with red
dish brown. Size 2.50 x 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 x 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 x 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.