Page:The birds of America, volume 7.djvu/332



Although my learned friend Prince Charles Bonaparte says in his Synopsis of the Birds of the United States, that this species is not uncom- mon in winter on our coast, I have only once met with it, and even then I rather supposed than was actually certain that the birds observed were Large-billed Puffins. They occurred on the outer side of the Island of Grand Manan, at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy. None were seen by myself or my companions on our way to Labrador, or in that country, so that I am unable to say anything respecting the habits of this remarkable bird. The specimens from which my figures were taken were kindly lent to me by Mr. Gould of London, whose name must be familiar to you as a successful cultivator of Ornithology.

Mormon glacialis, Bonap. Syn., p. 430.

Large-billed Puffin, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 541.

Large-billed Pdffin, Mormon glacialis, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 599. Male, 13, 24^.

Very rare, and in winter only, off the Bay of Fundy.

Adult Male.

Bill about the length of the head, nearly as high as long, exceedingly compressed, at the base higher than the head, obliquely furrowed on the sides. Upper mandible with a horny rim along the incurved basal margin, its dorsal line irregularly curved from the base, the ridge very narrow but rounded, the sides rapidly sloping, and marked with three curved oblique grooves, the edges strong, rather sharp, their outline nearly straight, the tip deflected, very narrow, but obtuse. Between the basal rim and the first groove is a triangular flat space, in the lower part of which, close to the edge of the mandible, is the linear direct nostril. Lower mandible with the angle narrow, and so placed that the base is inflected much beyond the perpendicular, the dorsal line irregularly curved, towards the end ascending and nearly straight, the ridge narrow, broader about the middle, the sides