Anadarko daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 1908-191?, 1910-10-28
PLTTZY TONY

Unfortunately. for all the immaculate
whlteness OF his head and neck. he
has the same tell-tale blood neck OF.
namenting his lower Jaw as has his
lesser relative; he has the same cold
eye. and even a blacker back. a real
sooty black; and II there are no traces
OF blood.guiltiness between the nests,
mayhap 1t is because he goes one bet
ter than they and swallows his NUT.
ton whole. Indeed. fishermen say that
he stands by the puhin's burrow like
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 holusbolus.
do not wish to malign the lesser
black.backed gull to the extent Of sug.
gesting by implication that II dsem.
bowels its victims while still alive In
fact the only evidence | have IS dis
tinctly TO the contrary. Mr. J. w. Par
sons. late of the Farnes lighthouse,
and a most acute observer of birdlife.
tells me that he once saw lesser
blackjack kill putin. He did not
see it catch the bird, but II was killed
by being shaken as a terrier shakes
rat, and then ducked under water until
drowned. Then the gull few with il
on to rock and. after dlsemboweling
1t, tried many times to swallow II
whole, but could not get II down. On
the land the puflin's footing seems un-
certain I'm the air its flight is labored;
therefore the place to see it at It's
best must be as 1t hunts its prey un-
der water
Much do I envy observers like Ed
mund Selous who have watched Il as
II wings its way beneath the waves
with its scarlet legs trailing behind.
AS you approach in a boat a little
group of puflins sitting on the water.
you get an inklins 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 II is done,
first one and then another disappears.
You see no dive, Just a bird sitting
motionless, and then little swirl
where was the bird. But II you want
to see one of the fairy sights of bird
land. go to pufHn-town and. resting
your back against a convenient rock,
be content to sit still for an hour In
front OF you is a shelving tract OF bare
brown earth nearly an acre I'm extent,
riddled in all directions with burrows
that so undermine the ground that,
however carefully you walk across II.
clumsy foot is sure sooner or later
to break into some putin habitaticn.
All the pufIins that your advent dis.
turbed are bobbing up and SIT in hun.
dreds In the bay below. Presently.
II you are quiet, they begin TO whirr
I up from the sea In twos and threes
and then scores and battallons. AS
likely as not the very first that pitch
will alight within two or three yards
Of you. Others. as they circle round,
will draw up their feet. which had
been extended as If for allghting. and
so pass out TO sea once more. But
before long punn.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 solemnity. Some
! stand still with Just an occasional
! Tapping OF their wings as II 70 dry
them, others take aimless little runs
! on their dapper little red legs and
then stand still, looking round. as II
puzzled what the next move Is 10 be-
Others fall awkwardly as they alight
and promptly drop down hole in the
| ground just as the next,door neigh
! Dor maybe pops up from another hole
and wnirrs out to sea. In a little group
! OF five two have caught hold OF one
another's beaks and are having a tus.
sic, but whether In amity or not can.
not tell Every now and then quite a
quarter Of the population will sudden.
ly bend forward and In an instant In
great cloud are whlTTng out to sea,
while those left behind look puzzled
at their sudden departure and just as
puzzled when In a few minutes all the
wanderers return. each taking up its
position again.
Many observers have been puzzled
TO understand how the puhin manages
to catch one fish after another and
pack each methodically across its
Jaws, but as Mr.. King opens the beak
Of a dead putin you have the answer
from the pufin's own mouth. for
there on its palate are the rows OF
barbs sloplng back, between which the
fish are filed. There is much more to
be told about this interesting little
bird, especially II all were known. But
puzzled as the pufin looks. there is
one thing known to that little ln,nd
behind the mask, but which puzzles
US. and that is the still unsolved mys.
terry OF where he spends his winter
time.