FRATERCULA.
Bill peculiar, sideways compressed, greatest thickness less than half its height at base; nares close to cutting edge of bill, in narrow longitudinal slits; nest in burrows or holes in cliffs; egg one, yellow white faintly spotted brown.
Fratercula arctica arctica (L.). PUFFIN. Fr. Macareux ; Ger. Lund ; Swed. Lunefogel.
Upper parts and collar black, sides of head, chin and upper throat grey ; beneath white. Bill in breeding season bluish grey at base, apical portion carmine with yellow ridges and bands across yellow, at base of upper mandible a raised rim is yellow and at mouth angle is an orange rosette of raised skin. At the same season above and below eye are raised blue grey patches of horny skin. Legs and feet orange. In autumn, the raised rim at base of bill, the rosette at mouth angle and patches above and below the eye drop off and bill becomes smaller. Wing 158-177 (H.). Bill 33-44. Height of bill at base Young have smaller bills without ornamentation.
/free/tr.—Bear Island, Iceland, W. Coasts Sweden and Norway up to Russian Lapland ; Fames, British Isles, Channel Islands, and Coast of Brittany ; also S. Greenland and E. Coast of America. Comes south in winter, sometimes as far as Canaries and Azores, and also met with in W. Mediterranean.
The Puffins breeding in Faroes and farther south have been separated as "F. arctica grabfe" (Brehm) on account of their smaller size. Wing 155-166. Tarsus 24-26. Bill 34-37. Height at base 33-36. It will be seen that measurements overlap, and the distinction is untenable. Winter birds from Majorca, said to be still smaller, have been named by Jordans " F. arctica meridionalis." This also cannot be recognised.
F. arctica naumanni Norton. Larger. Wing 175-194 (H.). Tarsus 30. Bill 42. Height at base Breeds.—Spitzbergcn and Nova Zembla, Jan Mayen and N. Greenland.