Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1910-10-26
RZzHTZY-TOW7Y-

Unfortunately, for all the immaculate
whiteness Of his head and neck, he
has the same tell-tale blood feck or
namenting his lower jaw as has his
lesser relative; he has the same cold
eye, and even blacker back, real
sooty black; and if there are no traces
of blood-guiltiness between the nests,
mayhap it is because he goes one bet
ter than they and swallows his NUT
ton whole. Indeed, fishermen say that
he stands by the puffins burrow like
a craven image, watching patiently,
and then, when at last the victim
| comes out, he is suddenly caught by
the back of the neck, has the life
! shaken out of him and is then gulped
| down hOlus-bolus.
l do not wish to maIign the lesser
black-backed gull to the extent of sug-
costing by implication that it disem-
bowels its victims while still alive. In
| fact, the only evidence 1 have is dis
| tinctly to the contrary. Mr.. J. w. Par
| sons, late of the Farnes lighthouse,
| and a most acute observer of bird-lifel
tells me that he once saw a lesser
blackjack kill a putin. He did not
see it catch the bird, but it was killed
by being shaken as a terrier shakes a
rat. and then ducked under water until
drowned. Then the gull flew with it
! on to rock and, after disemboweling
1t, tried many times to swallow it
whole, but could not get it down. On
the land the pufin's footing seems I'M
certain; in the air its flight is labored;
therefore the place to see it at it's
best must be as it hunts its prey I'M
der water
Much do l envy observers like Ed
mund Selous who have watched it as
it wings it's way beneath the waves
with it's scarlet legs trailing behind.
AS you approach in a boat a little
group of pufins sitting on the water,
you get an linking of their water
magic. When you get too near to them
for their peace of mind but not near
enough for you to see how it is done,
first one and then another disappears.
You see no dive, just a bird sitting
mOtionless, and then a little swirl
where was the bird. But if you want
to see one of the fairy sights of bird
land, go to puffin-town and, resting
your back against convenient rock,
be content to sit still for an hour In
front of you is shelving tract of bare
brown earth nearly an acre in extent,
riddled in all directions with burrows
that so undermine the ground that,
however carefully you walk across it,
a clumsy foot is sure sooner or later
to break into some putin habitation.
All the puffins that your advent dis
turbed are bobbing up and sit in hun
dreds in the bay below. Presently,
If you are quiet, they begin to whirr
up from the sea in tWos and threes
and then scores and battalions. AS
likely as not the very first that pitch
will alight within two or three yards
of you. Others, as they circle round,
been extended as if for alighting, and
so pass out to sea once more But
before long puffin-town will be dense
ly populated by its staid little inhab-
itants, all bearing that fixed puzzled
expression that makes them look al.
most comical in their soemnity. Some
stand still with just an occasional
tapping of their wings as If to dry
them, others take aimless little runs
on their dapper little red legs and
then stand still, looking round, as if
puzzled what the next move is to be.
Others fall awkwardly as they aIight
and promptly drop down a hole in the
ground, just as the next-door neigh
Dor maybe pops up from another hole
and whirrs out to sea- In a little group
of five two have caught hold of one
another's beaks and are having tus-
sic, but whether in amity or not l can
not tell. Every now and then quite a
quarter of the population will sudden
ly bend forward and in an instant in
a great cloud are whirring out to sea,
while those left behind look puzzled
at their sudden departure and lust as
puzzled when in few minutes all the
wanderers return, each taking I'D its
position again.
Many observers have been puzzled
to understand how the putin manages
to catch one fish after another and
pack each methodically across its
jaws, but as Mr.. King opens the beak
of dead putin you have the answer
from the puf1n's own mouth, for
there on its palate are the rows Of
barbs sloping back. between which the
fish are filed. There is much more to
be told about this interesting little
bird, especially if all were known But
puzzled as the putin looks, there is
one thing known to that little mind
behind the mask, but which puzzles
us. and that is the still unsolved mys-
terry of where he spends his winter
! time.
FRANCIS HEATHERLEY.