PUFFIN (so called from its pulTed-out beak). An auk of the genus Fraterenla, characterized by the high, compressed form of the beak. The best known is the common one (Fratercula arcti ea) of the Arctic and north temperate regions generally, which migrates southward in winter as far as Spain and Long Island. It 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 in a burrow or some natural hole in a cliff-face, where great numbers congregate and behave like auks and guillemots (qq.v.). The eggs and young birds are sought after by fowlers for food. Other species are found in the Arctic and North Pacific oceans, coming to California in winter. Among the most notable are the crested puffin (Lynda eirrhata), which has a long tuft of feathers on each side of the head, and the tufted puffin (Fratereula eornieulata). This might more suitably be called 'horned' puffin, as each of its upper eyelids bears a slender, upright, acute horn (See Plate of AUKS, ALBATROSS, ETC.), which, however, is only an appendage of the male in the breeding season, and drops off at its close, just as the special coatings and appendages of the beak and eyes in sonic other pnffins are ac quired in the spring and molted in the fall.
PUG (variant of puck, from Ir. puca, Welsh puca, pirei, goblin, sprite). A small, smooth, short-nosed house-dog, introduced into England probably from Holland, to which country it seems to have come, according to general testi mony, from the East Indies. The breed was well
established in England by the year 1700, and continued so from the reign of William II. to George 1I. By the first quarter of the nine teenth century pugs had nearly or quite disap peared from Great Britain. The fawn variety was reintroduced from Holland, and now there are two recognized strains—the Fawn and the Black (the latter brought from China about 1S75 by Lady Brassey). An inferior quality has long been bred in Italy and in France, where were called `carlins,' after a celebrated Harle quin. The pug is essentially a house-dog, and a very good one, and for that purpose a smaller dog than the standard allowed in competition (13 to 17 pounds) is the better. The general ap pearance is that of a large-headed, smooth coated, black-faced, pug-nosed, bright little dog, compact in form, with well-knit proportions and well-developed muscles. In color he is (in the ordinary variety) fawn all over, except on the muzzle or 'mask.' the ears, the moles on his cheeks, the thumb-mark' or 'diamond' on his forehead. and his back trace, which should all he as black as possible. His face is deeply wrin kled. and he carries his tail curled as tightly as possible over his hips. His coat must be short, smooth, soft, and glossy. neither hard nor wool ly.
The 'black pug' differs only in cola•; he is entirely black.