The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1910-10-27

the eye that under the name of
the third eyelid makes the Monaghan
eye such distinctive feature of his
human representative. This setting
Of the eye in an oblique chink gives
the putin that fixed, quizzical express
sion which has led most observers to
call 1t quaint-looking bird, but which
me irresistibly calls to mind the
,hinaman's bland-looking face that,
like mask. gives no sign of the work
ing of the inner mind.
It is a disappointment, after seeing
your first putin at close quarters at his
home in puffin-town, to turn up his
description in any bird-book and find,
after all the meticulous description Of
his feathers and the order of the col
ors on his rainbow-tinted beak, that
this distinctive feature of the screwed
up eye Is never mentioned. The Illus
trations in these books are as disap-
pointing as the text, the eye being as
much like rabbits as a puffins Be
sides the Monaghan eye, he has the
Monaghan secretiveness as well. In
offensive and unobtrusive, he is silent
as he stands upright, or moves about
somewhat uncertainty on his dapper
little red legs among the noisy crowd
on the rocks. It is oni- from the
depths of his burroW In the spongy
red soil. or from his chink among the
lichen-covered rocks, that the sound
of his language reaches your ear. In
the privacy of his home he now and
then utters strange sounds that when
first heard resemble somewhat in their
subdued information the distant low
ing of cattle or shouting of men. But
when you know him better you will
fancy you can hear in his deep,
mournful "Arrh!" weary sigh indica-
tive of his fate. For he Is the patient
coolie o. the shore. with worse than
indentrt-Ni labor Nr his fate. All the
rulirg classes look to him to provide
them with an easy meal. Every time
the proud peregrine's offspring in the
eyrie whimper for food putin some
where has to pay toll by giving up the
ghost; and yet, although this Is almost
an hourly occurrence on a summers
day, the other puffins continue uncom-
planning and unheeding.
model parent the putin must be,
for though 1t lays but single egg, 1t
manages to maintain its numbers year
after year, in spite of the heaviest tax
alton. There Is no colony Of the
lesser black-backed gull, where puffins
breed, that is not strewn with the
corpses of this humble little bird.
Were l a putin. this is the fate
should most resent. The peregrine at
least wastes nothing, leaves nothing
but the beak and legs; but the cold
blooded gull simply disembowels the
poor bird and leaves the rest to rot.
have never seen the tragedy of Its
death, whether It is killed on land OF
as 1t swims on the sea or as 1t files
through the air; but, were I hungry
bird Of prey, think 1t would tempt
me most as 1t skins through the air
For all the world II looks like a fat
mackerel fitted with a pair of wings
which hardly seem strong enough tc
carry It's plump little body to it's des
tination. In fact, as II whirrs up from
the sea to its burrow, as likely as not
II will turn head over heels as II
strikes the ground and then get vi
and make a wry face as 1t splits the
dirt out OF its mouth; or else it will
dash headlong against rock with {
smack that you would think would
kill 1t, and then look round as stupid
ly as a sheep that In its laundering
course fulfils It's fate as mutton Al
though each colony of lesser black
backs shows the bloody tribute of tn,
unfortunate putin, that of the create
! blackjack shows no evidence of thi
] kind.
In the whole community of hun
. bred nests of this ruler of the archi
l pelago-for not even the fierce pere
j CRIME disputes his sway-there wa
not single putin corpse to be seer