PUFFIN, Fratercula, a genus of birds of the auk (q.v.) family, alcadm, having the bill shorter than the head, very much compressed, its height at the base equal to its length, the ridge of the upper mandible as high as the top of the head, both mandibles arched, and transversely grooved. The hill gives to the birds of this genus a very extraordinary appearance. They have short legs, very short tail, and short wings; their legs are placed far back, and they sit very erect, like auks and penguins, restino. net merely on the foot, but on the tarsus. Notwithstanding their shortness of wing, they fly rapidly, although they seem incapable of long-sustained flights. They swim and dive admirably. The hest known and most widely distributed species is the COMMON PCFFIN (F. arctica), a native of the arctic and northern temperate regions, breeding not only in high northern latitudes, but as far s. as the coast of England, and migrating from the colder regions in winter, when it is to be found even on the coasts of Spain and Georgia. The puffin is a little larger than a pigeon; the forehead, crown, back of the head, a collar round the neck, the back, wings, and tail are black, the other parts of the plumage white. The puffin lays only a single egg, sometimes in a rabbit burrow, but more frequently in a borough of its own, which often extends three feet, an,d is not unfrequently curved; sometimes in deep fissures or crevices of cliffs. Great numbers congregate together, and their chosen breeding places are crowded with them. These are mostly on unfrequented islands and headlands, where there is sonic depth of soil. In some of them, the ground is covered by puffins, old and young, in thousands. The
eggs arc sought after by fowlers, and also the young birds, the flesh of which is used for food. The 'Scilly isles were held in the 14th c., under the king as earl of Cornwall, by Ranulph tie Blancminster, for an annual payment of 6s. 8c1., or 300 puffins at Michael mas. The puffin is also known by the name coulterneb, and on the e. coast of Scotland it is familiarly called tammienorie. Their food consists of small crustaceans and fishes. Other species are found in different parts of the world; one in Kamtchatka, the Kurile islands, etc., with two silky tufts of long feathers on its head.—The name puffin is given in France to the slteartcaters (q.v.), or puffin petrels, the genus puffinus of some ornithologists.
PUG, or PUG-DOG, a kind of dog much like the bull-dog in form, and in particular, in its much abreviated muzzle. The nose is often a little turned up. The disposition is, however, extremely unlike that of the bull-dog, being characterized by great timidity and gentleness. Pug-dogs are only kept as pets. They are often very affectionate and good-natured, bearing without resentment the roughest handling to which children can subject them. They are all of small size. The common English Rug is usually yellow ish with a black snout,the tail firmly curled over the back. New breeds have of late been introduced from China and Japan, interesting from their peculiar appearance, gentleness, and docility, with extremely short piggish muzzle; the Chinese breed very small, with smooth hair; the Japanese rather larger, with an exuberance of long soft hair and a very bushy tail.