Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-10-21
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Wilderness VI his head and neck. he
has the same telltale blood fleck or
namenting his lower jaw as has his
lesser relative; he has the same cold
eye, and even a blacker back. real
sooty black; and If there are no traces
OF blood-guiltiness between the nests.
mayhap IL is because he goes one bet
ter than they and swallows his mutt
ton whole. Indeed, fishermen say that
he stands by the puffn's burrow like
craven image, watching patiently!
and then, when at last the victing
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.
do not wish to maign the lesser
black backed gull to the extent of sug.
gesting by implication trat it disem-
bowels its victims while still alive. In
fact, the only evidence | have is dis
tinctly to the contrary Mr. j w par4
sons, late of the Farnes lighthouse
and most acute observer of bird-ifeI
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 terrier shakes al
rat, and then ducked under water until
drowned. Then the gull few with Id
on to a rock and after disemhOweinE
it, tried many times to swallow i'd
whole, but could not get it down. ON
the land the pufiln's footing seems un4
certain, in the air its fight is labored:
therefore the place To see it at it's
best must be as it hunts its prey un.
der water
Much do envy observers like Ed
mund Selous who have watched It as
It wings its way beneath the waves
with its scarlet legs trailing behind
AS you approach in boat u lttle
group of puffins sitting on the water.
you get an inkling 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 liz 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 bir6s
land, go to putiin-town and, resting
your back against convenient rock.
be content to sit stlll for an hour In
'front.' of you is a 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 II.
clumsy foot is sure sooner or later
to break into some putin habitation.
All the puffins that your advent dis
turbed are bobblng up and SIT in huns
dreds in the bay below Presently.
If you are quiet, they begin to whlrr
up from the sea in twos and threea
and then scores and battaRons As
likely as not the very first that pitch
will aligbt within two or three wards
Of you. Others as they circle round
will draw up their feet. which had
been extended as II for alighting. and
SO pass out TO sea once more But
before long pufHn-town will be dense.
Iy populated by its staid little inhab.
ltants, all bearing that fixed puzzled
expression that makes them look nj.
most comical in their soIemnlty. Some
stand still with Just an occasional
Tapping Of their wings as II TO Grv
them, others take aimless little runs
on their dapper little red legs and
then stand stiIl, looking round, as if
puzzled what the next move is to be
Others fall aWkwardly as they alIght
and promptly drop down a hole II, the
ground, just as the next-door neigh
Dor maybe pops up from another hole
and whirrs out to sea In q little group
Of five two have caught hold OF one
anothers beaks and are having a tus.
sic, but whether IN amity or not I can q
not tell Every now and then quite a
quarter Of the population will sudden
~ bend forward and in an instant in
great cloud are whirriug out TO sea
while those left behind look puzzled
at their sudden departure and inst as
puzzled when I'm few minutes all the
wanderers return. each taking M its
position again.
Many observers have been puzzled
TO understand how the puffn manages
to catch one fish after another ana
pack each methodically across ito
jaws, but as MIR. King opens the beak
Of dead putin you have the answer
from the pufHn's own mouth. for
there on it's palate are the rows of
barbs sloping back. between which tho
fish are fled There is much more tn
be told about this interesting Iittle
bird, especially If all were known Rut
puzzled As Ire putin looks. there is
one thing known to that little mind
behind the mask, but which puzzles
us. and that is the still unsolyed mvs-
terry of where he spends his winter
time
FRANCIS HEATHERLEY