The black guillemot is much less abundant than the last species. On the south and east coasts it is extremely rare; its principal breeding-stations are on the west coast of Scotland; and it also breeds on the north and west coasts of Ireland. It differs greatly from the common guillemot in size, being scarcely more than half as large as that species; also in colouring, the whole plumage, except a broad white patch on the wing, being glossy black, the legs and feet bright red. It breeds in the same situations as the common guillemot, but is not so gregarious; and in its nesting-habits it resembles the razorbill, laying its eggs in a hole or cranny in the rocks, or beneath a rock on the soil. Two eggs are laid, in ground-colour white, or pale stone, or pale green, spotted and blotched with brown and grey. The young are covered with a greyish black down, and their first plumage is mottled black and white. [Illustration: FIG. 119.--LITTLE AUK. ⅛ natural size.] The black guillemot frequents the seas in the vicinity of its breeding-station throughout the year. Brünnich’s guillemot (_Lomvia bruennichi_) is a very rare straggler from the arctic regions to the northern islands and coasts of Scotland. The little auk (_Margulus alle_) is an irregular visitor, sometimes in considerable numbers, to the British coasts, especially in the north. It is a circumpolar species, and straggles southwards in winter, but seldom approaches the British Islands, except in very severe weather. Puffin. Fratercula arctica. [Illustration: FIG. 120.--PUFFIN. ⅑ natural size.] Crown, collar, and upper parts black, all the rest white; bill, bluish at the base, yellow in the middle, bright red at the tip; legs and feet orange-red. Length, twelve inches. * * * * * Among British birds, whether sea or land, the puffin is the most singular in appearance--a small auk, compact in build, conspicuous in black and white plumage, broad collar, white, owlish face, and great beak, short and adze-shaped, but massive as a toucan’s. The brilliant colours of this beak, too--red with orange bars--give it a curious resemblance to the enormous organ of the tropical bird. One may look at the puffin almost daily, as he stands on the rocks, always with something of surprise at his strikingly handsome yet grotesque appearance. The fanciful idea suggests itself that the bird is a masquerader; that the visible, brilliantly coloured beak has been artificially made, and put on over the natural beak, just as in the case of a human masquerader a large, gaily coloured, artificial nose is sometimes placed over the natural organ. And the puffin’s beak is, in fact, something of a mask, or superimposed ornament; and after the breeding season its surface peels off in horny plates, and is shed like the deciduous bark of certain trees. The bird’s beak in winter is moderate in size and dull-coloured.