ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
THE GULLS AND THEIR ALLIES
Common Puffin
The remaining species belong to the genus Fratercula, of which the Common Puffin (F. arctica) inhabits the North Atlantic, ranging south in winter on the American side to New Jersey, and to the Canary Islands on the European side.
It breeds more or less abundantly on the Bird Rocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in almost incredible numbers on St. Kilda, the famous bird rocks of the English coast. When the conditions permit they dig a burrow for themselves, which is three or four feet in length and lined at the end with dry grass and feathers, and woe betide the incautious person who thrusts a hand in to disturb the setting bird.
”Never,”says Mr. F. M. Chapman,”have I seen anything in the shape of a bird so diabolically vicious as a Puffin. An individual which we captured alive and attempted to study in our workroom, proved altogether too fierce a creature to have about.”
The Large-billed Puffin (F. a. naumanni), which differs in its large bill and generally larger size, inhabits the coasts and islands of the Arctic Ocean from Spitzbergen to Baffin's Bay, while the Horned Puffin (F. corniculata), so called from the presence of horn-like processes on the upper eyelid, is found in the North Pacific.
previous bird species next bird species
Footer
Footer